Isolation
by ill0gical
Summary: Dark halls. Stark cells. Shouts, laughter, screams. An ambiance of teenage angst, anger, emotion and clouds without silver linings. Welcome to Oto's Juvenile Institution. AU. SasuSaku. NaruHina.
1. Chapter 1

welcome, lovelies, to this grand adventure! before we begin, i have a couple of things to say...

**note i -** please remember that this is a _fanfic_, i cannot make it as accurate as i'd like to because i have not been in any of the situations i am placing these characters in. i've literally based half of the beginning of this off the shawshank redemption (sweet-ass film, if you haven't seen it, go watch!).  
**note ii -** this is probably one of the fics i am more serious about for now, however, updates will not be as often as i'd like due to chapter lengths/my other fics. i _do_ intend to finish it, but please don't hound me if updates are slow!  
**note iii -** i really hope you enjoy yourselves here; i don't know what to expect for further coming chapters... this baby's writing itself.  
**disclaimer:** naruto is not my property. alright, you ready? let's gogogo!

* * *

**One: Oto Juvenile Institution.**

Juvenile Hall: the place where uncontrollable children are sent when they find themselves in deep trouble with the law. The building looked bleak, a tall, flat walled, grey painted zone of unfriendliness. Choked anger seemed to push itself against the barred windows as the inmates watched the truck roll up across the gravel and two mean-looking guards in their black and purple uniforms pulled a handcuffed youth from the innards of the automated-prison-mobile.

The rows of teenagers watched with curiosity as the boy was marched forward, his head was down but a ray of bright blonde spikes stuck out for the juveniles to speculate at.

"Well?" A girl shouted from across the hall, the rows of dark cells housing almost three hundred teenage girls lay opposite the boys' seven hundred. These were the dormitories belonging to the inmates of Cell Block B of the Oto Juvenile Institute – the largest in the continent. "Who's here?"

"It's a dude—" A brunette boy shouted back, then he faltered, "—Uh, well, it's a dude or a dyke – I can't really tell from so far away." A couple of the teenagers laughed harshly.

The blonde girl who had questioned the hall in the first place flicked her long ponytail off her shoulders and stepped back from the bars, folding her arms across her chest and smirking, "Oh, that's real cute, Kiba."

"Yeah, Almost as cute as you, baby!" The boy responded, a wide grin splitting across his face as he swaggered up to the bars of his cell, red tattoos catching in the light as he stared at her whilst she blushed and pulled the dull grey cuffs of her Oto overall-style uniform over her fingertips and giggled at the remark whilst the boys wolf-whistled and whooped at the brave remark.

"I'll kick your ass, Kiba, don't think I won't, 'cause I _will_." The blonde called back once the noise died down.

This was met by a roar of banter from the boys' side as Kiba chuckled loudly before yelling back, "Lookin' forward to it, Ino!"

The gate to the hall whammed open and a hush fell over the teenaged inmates as the silver haired captain of the guards marched his way into the huge hall, his dull grey eyes glaring at the rows of teens as he made his way further in, beside him, the new, spiky haired blonde was stepping slowly and with a proud swagger; his tall form fitted newly with the dull grey overalls of the institute. He'd tied the arms of his overalls around his waist displaying a bright orange wife beater and muscular, tanned arms. He followed the captain up the metal stairs and along past curious eyes to a cell right at the end of the first level. He entered it silently until the screech and clang of the metal bars told the hall that it was closed and that the blonde teenager was officially an inmate of the Oto Juvenile Institute and that he would be for a whole year.

The captain of the guard smirked pitilessly at the blue eyed boy before turning on his heel and making his way slowly past the first row of boys and out of the hall, but not before shouting, "Lights out in an hour." Two metal clangs were heard before a collective sigh broke out among the cell rows. The blonde haired male looked dully around the room before he actually realized where he was. He took note of the posters already plastered against the wall, the bare floor and the box of cigarettes atop the single window sill as well as the… bunk bed… and the dark haired boy sitting with his back against the wall on the top bunk, a single cigarette between his lips and a black clipper in his hand.

The blonde stared at the dark haired boy. The dark haired boy glared back. "…The fuck are you supposed to be?" The teen muttered at last, the words faintly muffled by the still unlit cigarette between his thin, pale lips.

"My name's Naruto Uzumaki." The blue eyed boy responded, his voice unsure at the unfriendly, hostile way that the boy with the strangely dishevelled black hair had spoken to him. From outside of the three-walled cell, more jeers and roars of laughter could be heard from the teenagers outside, "Who are you?"

The boy with the dark hair eyed Naruto cautiously; one slanted, black brow was still raised above the other suspiciously at this intruder. His obsidian eyes seemed to be analysing every little detail of the boy before he slowly began to relax back against the wall. He sparked his lighter in front of his face, letting the tobacco and paper product protruding from his lips catch a light, drawing the fumes into his lungs and then breathing out slowly, his eyes closed. "My name is Sasuke." He said quietly, his tone still hostile but not as terribly unfriendly as before. He seemed to have realized that Naruto was no real threat to him and settled himself on his stomach, finger and thumb holding onto the cigarette whilst he watched Naruto lower his belongings onto the bottom bunk. "What'd you get thrown into this hovel for?" The boy asked after a period of uncomfortable silence filled with nothing but the sounds of the teenagers outside and his own breathing.

Naruto appeared to be examining the posters on the wall with mild interest. He whirled around, seemingly surprised that the unfriendly teenager was actually speaking to him. "Nothing big, but for some reason my parents freaked out and decided I needed to be rehabilitated… I don't really remember what I did but they keep telling me it's for the destruction of property."

"Specifically…?"

"A science lab at school – it was totally blown to shit!" Naruto chuckled sadly, raising an arm to rub the back of his neck and watched an interested smirk slide across the dark haired boy's lips. Apparently he liked stories of violence and destruction. The blonde continued, "I don't remember what happened. It must have been out of rage or something but they're telling me that I flicked every gas tap on throughout two classrooms at the end of the school day – nobody even got hurt – and I wouldn't have done that if it were me…"

"You told me it wasn't a big deal," The dark haired boy smirked, propping himself up on one elbow. The bunk bed squeaked, "You blew up your school, man."

Naruto shook his head before folding his arms and leaning against the wall, "Well, what are you in for?"

The smirk slid from the pale boy's face and he rolled over onto his back, stabbing his cigarette out against the not too distant ceiling and twisting it a few times, "Well," he began, "I'm in here for multiple arson attacks. They almost threw me into a nuthouse, thought I was some kind of pyromaniac; tell you the truth, I'd rather be here than anywhere else right now."

There was a short silence before the blonde said in a slightly embarrassed tone, "Arson? I'm sorry, Sasuke, I'm not that smart at all; I don't know what that means…"

The dark haired boy sighed, "Arson is the act of maliciously burning another's house or property." After another blank look he rolled his eyes and drawled in a bored voice, "I set three of my school libraries on fire."

"Oh, damn!"

"Yeah. Fuckin' school." He muttered sourly.

"Why?" Naruto questioned brightly.

Sasuke didn't respond for a long time. The blonde gave up and stepped forward, picking up the stack of clothes with the beat up pillow and scuffed, but thankfully clean comforter he had received on his way in. He dropped the ugly grey uniforms to the floor whilst he spread the blanket out and dumped his pillow at one end of his bunk. He then picked up his clothes and opened a drawer of the single chest in the tiny room. Not surprisingly, the drawer was already filled with the same uncomfortable looking grey uniform.

"Sasuke, where should I put my—?"

"Underneath that one." Sasuke's voice drawled, "Just move whatever's in it out and drop it in the top one…"

Naruto nodded, getting onto his knees and pushing the top wooden drawer partially closed before pulling the bottom one open. There wasn't much inside it; just a few more lighters and boxes of Malboro— "Dammit, if they threw you in here for arson why do they let you smoke so much?"

"They don't." The dark haired teen replied as he rolled over onto his side to face the blonde once more. He hung his arm down and let it swing from side to side - his dark eyes followed its path lazily, his fingers occasionally making patterns.

Confused, Naruto raised an eyebrow as he picked up the rectangular boxes with both hands, "So?"

Sasuke brought his arm back up, folding both of them and resting his chin on his interlaced fingers he said in a factual tone, "There's always one person who can get you things, don't you know that? You just have to know who…"

The blonde teenager grinned with his eyes closed as he dropped the little boxes and the lighters into the top drawer. He placed his clothing into its place and pushed the little space closed. He then stood up and paced the small cell. After a short while, he stopped and sat down on his bunk mattress, the metal squeaking at the impact. He stared at the dent that Sasuke's unmoving body had caused in the mattress above him and coughed lightly to clear his throat.

Above him, Sasuke was staring at the ceiling. Naruto was his first bunkmate since he'd been here. The dark haired teenager had only been institutionalized for about a month, but he already knew everything there was to know about the institution itself. He knew who the right people were and who the wrong people were. He knew the everyday timetable off by heart:

**07:00 – **_Wake up.  
_**07:10 **_**– **__Clean up._  
**07:30** _– Breakfast.  
_**08:00** _– Lessons.  
_**10:00** _– Break.  
_**10:30** _– Lessons.  
_**13:30** _– Lunch.  
_**14:00** _– More lessons.  
_**16:00** _– Free/Counselling time.  
_**18:00** _– Dinner.  
_**18:30** _– Cell/Free time.  
_**22:00** _– Lights out._

This was the routine that every boy and girl in the Oto Juvenile Institution was forced to abide by. Fortunately, free time was stretched pretty widely and the majority of the time the kids were all together. Though he'd never show it, Sasuke preferred it that way. He'd rather be around people than be left with his memories. He had eleven months or so to go of rehabilitation within these walls. There was always the possibility of him setting something on fire if he wanted to, just to blur the memories, but he wouldn't. He knew that the warden would send him to a mental institution otherwise.

Orochimaru, the warden of the institution, was a tall man in his early fifties. He was very slim and fragile looking, his cheek bones appeared hollow on his ghost-like features. He had always taken a strange liking to Sasuke – but Sasuke had never liked him. The man was vicious and brutal. His guards were on the very tenterhooks of abusing a fair majority of the youths within the centre. It was best to keep your head down and out of the way. Sasuke wondered if Naruto knew this already.

"S-Sasuke?" The blonde murmured at that moment, a little awkwardly, as if he were afraid to speak.

"What?" The raven haired teenager grunted.

"The people here – like us – who… who's in here that's worth talking to…? Like what kind of people should I keep away from; who's good, who's bad?"

Sasuke furrowed his dark eyebrows for a moment, his eyes still fixed on the ugly ceiling above him. "Well," He said eventually, "There's Neji Hyuuga, he's a karate black belt who lost his shit with his uncle; there's Sui – Suigetsu Hozuki – he was in a gang and knifed someone, but he's… adequate enough. And Kiba Inuzuka – he's an arrogant prick but, well, that's him. He's madly in love with this girl, Ino."

"Ino? Doesn't that mean pig… boar or something?" Naruto's voice travelled to the teen above him who snorted in amusement.

"Yes, but if you want to keep your balls, it's probably wiser not to say that to her." Beneath him, Naruto shuddered, Sasuke continued, "Ino Yamanaka… she never really said what she's here for. I've not spoken to her much. There's also Karin, we don't know her last name. She's a twisted, sadistic bitch."

"What did she do?"

"She was a bully and it wound her up in here. She was thrown out of so many schools; her father didn't know what else to do."

"Damn…" Naruto muttered, "So many crazy bitches."

Silently, Sasuke agreed. "The worst out of the girls is Tenten. I'm not even sure she's sane. In the time I've been here, she's punched Kabuto twice and stabbed a guy in the hand with a fork."

Naruto whistled lowly, "That great prick who calls himself '_Captain of the Guard_'?"

"Yes." Sasuke said, "That one."

"Was she punished?"

"Yeah, I… I'm not actually sure what her punishment was. All I know is that she was raging for weeks afterwards. Her friend Sakura is just as bad. Kid arrived here with bright pink hair – I don't even know how it's still pink – dressed like some rocker babe from the eighties. I mean, she's cool but she won't say what she's in for. We heard she threatened Orochimaru when she got in."

"Oh s_hit,_ Sasuke, these girls are worse than us."

Sasuke shook his head to himself and uttered a, "Hn," before continuing, "Lastly, there's this girl Hinata – same problem as Neji. She lost her shit and attacked someone. She's… way too quiet. I don't know what it is. She's quiet and she always tries to look after everyone. It's like she's weirdly innocent."

"So she isn't crazy?"

"Not from what I've seen."

"Oh," Naruto seemed to sigh with relief, "Thank _God_ for that. All these girls you've described sound so… out of control."

"They aren't. They walk around like they're hot shit but the moment I walk around the corner they're basically on their knees."

"Beggin' for the dick." Naruto added with a wink and a grin.

Sasuke's mouth parted in distaste. He knew that he was attractive, he knew that these rebellious girls had all set their sights on him, but he knew that each of his friends had grown a liking to them, which was why he hadn't made any kind of move as he might have in the past. But as far as he was concerned, Sasuke was the balls of the institute. The girls wanted him. Some of the guys wanted him. He was pretty sure Orochimaru wanted him. Sasuke had them all wrapped around his finger and he could get them to do anything for him if he wanted – but he didn't. And he earned respect from how cool and collected he was. Or something like that. That was the way he liked to think it was.

Naruto seemed to like the idea of Hinata. Sasuke had to admit, she was the one diamond in the rough; she was the embodiment of innocence, though it was clear that she had one big secret – something she didn't want to tell anyone. And she'd been in here longer than most of the people he'd mentioned to Naruto… except Karin. Crazy redhead had to have been in here before time began, she was so expert with the ways of the institution. She was the one who had taught Sasuke how the place worked. She had pointed out the faggots so that he wouldn't be attacked by them in the middle of the evening. She'd introduced him to Cheeseburger Choji – the lardass who could smuggle almost anything in because of his size. Karin had also been the one to introduce Sasuke to Shikamaru, the brains of the smuggling operations and a master at chess whom even he was yet to beat.

Unfortunately, as the girls within the institute began to notice Sasuke more, Karin had stopped being his friend and began continually trying to get him alone. He'd passed off any kind of connection they had and kept himself to himself. The guys, Suigetsu, Neji and Kiba had all grown closer to him, though. The four of them were what would have been considered 'the popular boys' back when the only prison they belonged to was high school. The boys were always kept company by the girls, Hinata, Karin, Sakura, Tenten and Ino during meals and free time.

Sasuke was pretty sure something was starting to blossom between Kiba and Ino; their flirting every single night across the bars, the way they always seemed to disappear somewhere together during free time – it was suspicious. Sasuke smirked to himself at the thought of what kind of mischief those two might have gotten up to together. Ino was such a hardass, it was hard to picture her letting Kiba anywhere near her without bitchslapping him backwards eight to ten metres.

Suigetsu and Karin had a love-hate thing going, too. One moment, he'd be talking to her as if they were friends, the next they'd be bickering and by the time they made up they were near enough to tearing each other's clothes off. _Seeeeeriiiious _amounts of sexual tension, right there.

Neji and Tenten seemed to already have a thing, nobody in the whole institute needed to ask. They were constantly together when they weren't locked away from each other. They were either freakishly solid best friends or they were dating. Nobody dared to ask Tenten, though her girlfriends probably knew. Neji barely talked and when he did it mostly consisted of sly remarks and grunts.

…Neji and Sasuke had a lot in common. In fact, Sasuke didn't even know why he was talking to this new boy so much. Perhaps it was something to do with the fact that he hadn't spoken to anybody properly in so long.

Back in the free world, Sasuke had an older brother. The two of them used to do everything together until he left for university. Since he'd left, everything had started to get to him more and more. He had no real way to let it out. To this day, he had no idea why he kept on burning down those school libraries. He could never explain it. His brother had tried to write to Sasuke as frequently as possible once he'd learnt where their old man had sent his little brother but, well, he must have been busy. Sasuke had received one letter since being here, and that was on his entrance.

"LIGHTS OUT!" The command sounded very suddenly and very loudly from the central hall beyond the cell bars. The noise outside had died down… Sasuke hadn't noticed. He'd been so deep in his thoughts that he must have missed it all. The light outside the cell bars vanished and the colossal bird cage was left in a soft, whispering quiet. The sound of squeaking bunks echoed from all around, even his own cell, as Naruto pulled his comforter over himself. Sasuke slowly began to follow suite, his mind elsewhere for now.

Not another word came from Naruto on his first night. He appeared to have fallen asleep instantly. A series of soft snores followed the first ten minutes of total silence within the hall. Sasuke, too, soon drifted off.

* * *

At seven, the steel bars of the cell doors screeched open and the inmates sleepily trampled their way out of the dark spaces, rubbing sleep out of their eyes and trailing down to wherever it was they were supposed to be dragged down to wherever it was that they were to "clean up". Sasuke was wearing his grey prison overalls with the arms tied around his waist in the same style that Naruto had had his yesterday and he wore a plain, navy blue t-shirt underneath. He'd slept in it. He was expecting a new set of shirts today after the showers. Whatever.

Naruto appeared to be falling over his own feet. He wore the same white plimps as almost every single person locked inside the great prison ward did. He also had on his favourite orange t-shirt whilst his uniform was, once again, tied with the sleeves in a knot around his waist.

The sea of teenagers traipsing from the ward was amazing; there were so many kids stuck in this joint – each with their own crime, each with their own time.

Naruto ended up almost jogging after Sasuke so as not to lose him. "Don't talk to me." The dark haired teen muttered.

Well, it _was _the morning. But not wanting to get on anybody's bad side in a prison filled with violent teenagers, Naruto did as he was told. Sasuke probably just needed a cigarette. Then he'd be a happy bunny.

The boys and girls seemed to separate at the bottom of the hall, the girls stepping out into the corridor led by a force of guards armed with painfully heavy looking batons in case violence were to break out. The boys split in the other direction, led by the same heavy-looking guards. Oto Institute did _not_ fuck around with letting unruly kids get away with things.

Naruto had heard stories about youth institutions. He had heard that they were violent and that teenagers were always mistreated. He had heard that fights broke out almost every hour of the day and that bad behaviour merited cruel punishments. However, Oto didn't seem that bad so far. In fact, every single teenager he had witnessed so far appeared to have his or her friendship group and stuck with them.

God, it was like _school_…

It was ten past seven in the morning. Sasuke hadn't slept properly all night. He couldn't really sleep at Oto; it was rare that he'd ever get a full night's worth. He couldn't get to sleep when he could hear the teens whispering things to each other from across their cells. He couldn't get to sleep because some dickhead always had a torch or light on. And whenever he managed to close his eyes and drop off, the bunk bed on which he slept gave him the most uncomfortable feeling that he was falling, and he'd jerk awake a lot.

Although, there were some nights where exhaustion would just overwhelm him and he'd sleep peacefully from the free association time all the way to seven the next morning.

He now stood barefoot in a dark blue shower cubicle. He wondered if the girls' showers were pink or red or something, because it was just so stereotypical. The dark haired teen removed his clothes before stepping into a lukewarm shower. He shuddered, hurrying as fast as he could to cover his body in stiff soap and shampoo and condition his untameable black locks of hair.

Goddamn, why were the showers always so cold? He dreaded to think what they'd be like in the winter. There was very little heating and next to no insulation in the whole building. Maybe the body heat and energy from the many adolescents would heat that great, empty hall… but Sasuke doubted it.

He hit the switch to turn the jet of warm-cool water off and whipped a plain navy towel from where he'd left it hanging atop the cubical door. He wrapped it around his waist, took a deep breath and shook his head quickly in a vain attempt to shed any excess water from his damp hair.

He was quick to change into a fresh set of clothes and back into his plimps before making his way out of the showers – quickly, before the homos decided to look at him funny again – and straight to the dining hall. Something nagged at his conscience. Perhaps it was the new kid he'd left behind. He shouldn't leave him pray to the other guys. Ah, he was a big boy. He could look after himself. Besides that, Sasuke was s_tarving._

He mooched into the cafeteria with his face set in a totally passive state. He headed straight to where he grabbed one of those stupid, plain grey-blue trays with the _stupid _little sections on them to fairly proportion meals before sliding it along to collect whatever was warm. His very bones were basically beginning to freeze from that icy shower and the fact that his hair, though spiking annoyingly as it dried, was still pretty damp. He dropped into a seat beside a girl with pink hair.

She seemed to freeze for a second before glancing unsurely at him, her also faintly damp strands of short, choppy hair was brushed out of her eyes by her long, skinny, pale fingers as she stared at him. This was Sakura Haruno. She was wearing her Oto uniform correctly, although the buttons on the upper part of her ugly, grey overalls were only done up half way, exposing a regular, black tank top and a set of _awesome _boobs.

She coughed, her lilting voice breaking the silence between the two of them, "So, we heard you were landed with the new guy."

Sasuke swallowed his carefully chewed bread roll subtly. Couldn't she see that he was trying to eat? The last thing Sasuke wanted was to make conversation with anyone, especially not before having a smoke. Gosh. None-the-less, his mother's words echoed in his mind from way back before he even knew what he needed to be nice to girls for, _"always give a girl a proper conversation so that she knows you're not just a pretty image of your mom and dad, okay, Sasuke?"_

Sasuke inwardly rolled his eyes whilst outwardly he nodded blankly, not even turning to look at Sakura.

The pink haired girl was used to this. Sasuke wasn't the best person in the world for holding conversations. He had made it quite clear that he wasn't here to make friends: he was here because his parents had forced him in here and all he wanted to do was be alone with his thoughts. Sakura was his friend though. He didn't know it – or maybe he did, but he'd never admit it - but Sakura was one of his best friends.

Finally, the dark haired boys' chapped, apricot lips parted and a couple of words fell out in the deep, silky but still hoarse from not being used during the night voice that could only have belonged to Sasuke Uchiha, "Yes, his name's Naruto."

"Naruto?" Sakura responded immediately.

Sasuke merely nodded before returning to his breakfast.

A loud crash and a shout indicated the first fight of the morning. The Uchiha never raised his head. He just listened whilst Sakura commentated in her ever excited voice. Ugh, how could anybody have the _energy _to be excited in the morning? And this early too. "Oh holy shit, holy shit, holy shit! It's that weird kid Gaara."

"And?"

"And a blonde kid. What the fuck? That's the new guy! Sasuke, get a leash on your friends, man!"

"Hn," The Uchiha smirked a distasteful smirk, "that's really funny." He said sarcastically. However, his dark eyes shot up and zoned in on the chaos immediately. He almost groaned when he realized that Sakura's words were true and that Naruto was one of the two involved. The oddball, Gaara was holding one of the food trays above his head offensively and Naruto was holding his out in front of him, his big eyes wide and apparently very, very sorry. Sasuke made a sound of disgust using his tongue against his teeth, "What a pair of losers." He muttered. His eyes watching as Naruto appeared to run straight into a guard who had come to see what all of the commotion as about.

He knew he shouldn't have left that _dobe _alone.

"Ever the cheerful one, Sasuke," the light-hearted voice of Suigetsu joked as the white haired male slid onto the bench beside him and Sakura.

The dark haired teen didn't respond, he just continued to watch the scene escalate across the hall. Sakura shook her head and commented on how it would have been smarter for Naruto to keep his head down today. "I don't know," She said, "but speaking from experience, getting yourself into trouble when you're new in an institution probably isn't the wisest decision."

"He's being let off, look." A new voice said. Sasuke recognized the low, know-it-all tone to belong to Karin, the fiery redhead with a temper hotter than the sun and colder than dry ice. He watched as Naruto appeared to sigh heavily and Gaara skulked away out of the light from the huge, double glazed glass windows from which the early morning light beamed in. The blonde then made his way around to queue for his breakfast.

"Eventful breakfast." Sasuke commented dryly.

"Oh, Sasuke! He looks so lost," Sakura said, "call him over."

The Uchiha didn't look Sakura in the eye. He just raised an eyebrow before murmuring, "No?"

"What's his name?" The little pink haired girl asked.

"Naruto, his name is Naruto. And he is a 'he'." Kiba's voice put in from somewhere off to the left as he and Ino slumped onto the bench opposite them, the joke from the night before coming back to a faint giggle from the group settling itself along the tables.

Sakura jumped up eagerly, "Oi, Naruto, get over here!" she called, waving. Sasuke turned to tip his chin up when Naruto's eyes landed on him questioningly as if to say, _'Yes. Just come here. Before you embarrass yourself anymore. Now.'_

The blonde glanced around the hall before sauntering in a much more dignified, less lost-looking direction towards the bench around which eight teenagers had gathered to eat their breakfast. He surveyed his cellmate, Sasuke, who surveyed him right back with dark, serious eyes almost completely hidden beneath his choppy, inky bangs.

Beside Sasuke was a girl with bubblegum pink hair – possibly the brightest thing beside his own hair in the whole of the gloomy prison – and bright green eyes. She waved him over with a friendly smile on her face. Naruto, however, knew better than to let a pretty face get to him. Beside her was a girl with fiery red hair and piercing, pupil-less, scarlet eyes behind thick, black rimmed glasses. Then beside her was a boy around Sasuke's age with straight, completely white hair. He looked up and greeted Naruto with a 'yo'; Naruto noticed his eyes were a crazy purple amethyst colour and his own blue orbs shifted, not maintaining eye contact as he set his tray down opposite the white-haired teen.

"You're the new kid!" A brunette teen chirped beside him. Her hair was pulled up into two tight buns making her seem fairly innocent, but the dull glint in her eyes let Naruto know that she was not to be fucked with. None of the girls were, from Sasuke's speech about them yesterday. He nodded quietly.

It was unusual for Naruto to ever be this quiet. Outside of the institution, Naruto Uzumaki was the biggest loudmouth amongst free men. He had a brilliantly loud, continuous laugh – but here… Naruto kept his head down, his scarred face almost parallel to his tray of grim looking oatmeal. Who the fuck still ate oatmeal anyway. "Don't you talk?" The brunette girl tried again, in a quieter tone.

"Yeah, he talks." Sasuke answered for him. Naruto was faintly grateful, even at the bluntness of his cellmate's voice.

"Tenten," A deep, commanding voice murmured to the brunette who was leaning almost far too close to Naruto for his own comfort, "let the boy breathe."

"But Neji, I want to say hi!" The girl whined, whirling in her seat to the mature-looking male beside her. Neji had long, dark –chocolate coloured hair which was pushed back and off of his face by a plain white headband. He was looking seriously at the little brunette girl with the two buns on either side of her head through pearly, shockingly ghost-like and pupil-less eyes.

Why did everyone have such creepy eyes in this prison, though, why?

Naruto's blue eyes scanned further along the table as he took a subtle search along the bench. Past Neji, his eyes locked onto a tanned brunette as he picked up a piece of toast. He began to munch on it with alarmingly sharp canine teeth and ravenous, dark brown eyes. It was then that Naruto realized that the boy had a set of tattoos… on his cheeks. His defined cheekbones stuck out at desirable angles along with his strong, prominent jawline that could have rivalled even Naruto's; but the strange thing was that the tattoos on his face looked more like war paint than anything else. They were just two simple red fangs. Naruto pulled his curious eyes away from them when the brunette boy seemed to feel his intrigued gaze and turned to peer back at him with a single eyebrow raised.

"Naruto—is that your name?" The pink haired girl piped up opposite him.

A blonde on the far side beside the boy with the tattooed face rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue impatiently, "Duh, Kiba just _said_ that."

"I know! I just wanted to make sure. Gosh, Ino…" The girl with the pink hair hissed back viciously before returning to fold her hands politely in front of her untouched breakfast and smile at the new inmate. "My name is Sakura Haruno. How are you?"

"Pleasure to meet you, Sakura Haruno," Naruto suddenly felt his face split into a grin at the kindness shown by this 'young offender', Sakura, that Sasuke had warned was a crazy-as-fuck-run-for-the-hills bitch. "My name's Naruto Uzumaki. I'm good thanks, and you?"

"Good to hear. I'm, well, imprisoned; it doesn't give one the most _buzzed _vibe, to be honest. Did you sleep okay? The first night here's always rough…"

"I slept great!" The blonde grinned widely again. Sasuke had slid his fingers into the spaces between his other fingers and was now resting his chin on his intertwined hands, listening to the exchange between his new cellmate and Sakura Haruno with something like faint interest.

"My name's Karin." The redhead beside Sakura announced, her voice was hard – she looked hard. Her hair, now that Naruto was closer to her, was messy and mused on one side, yet it was totally tidy and properly brushed on the other. Maybe she was the crazy one that Sasuke had mentioned had been here for longer than any of the others. He nodded his awkward 'hi' to her before waiting for the next person to introduce themselves. "Sui?"

"Whaddup Naruto. My name's Suigetsu Hozuki; Sui to everyone else."

"'Sup."

"MY NAME'S INO!" The blonde girl that Sakura had hissed at so menacingly before called down the table with a cute wave, her baby blue eyes sparkling in the morning's bright light as they caught it.

"I'm Kiba Inuzuka." Kiba shot two fingers off the side of his brunette mess of spikes in a salute.

"—oh… my surname's Yamanaka…" The blonde added as an afterthought. Naruto smiled and nodded at both of them.

"Neji Hyuuga. I have a cousin, her name's Hinata Hyuuga, but she's not here this morning, she's usually with us too."

"N-No, Neji…" A tiny, huffing voice murmured right at that moment from behind him. Naruto glanced up at the girl who had made the sound. Ah… so _this _was Hinata Hyuuga. The girl wore her prison jumpsuit correctly with the regulation pair of white plimps neatly; her long, plum-violet hair trailed down her back almost to her clearly curvy and her bangs were cut immaculately, framing her tiny, pale face with a short blush painted against its flawless canvas. Hinata seemed to share those same, ghostly eyes with Neji, but hers were darker and framed by brilliantly long, dark lashes. "I," the girl began, "I was in the sh-shower for longer than I had, um, expected—"

"Understood, sit down. Meet Naruto, he's our new inmate."

"Hey," Naruto waved at her casually, smiling kindly at the stuttering girl.

All of a sudden, her face turned bright red. She whirled around on her heel and disappeared into the crowds of teenagers a moment later. Naruto's mouth dropped open. "Did… did I do that?" He questioned to the group. They all shook their heads with the collective answer of 'no'.

"She's so cute when she meets cute guys, how cute."

"You said cute three times, Tenten." Sasuke told the funny girl with the buns.

She narrowed her eyes, "And what?" She hissed at him dangerously.

Sasuke shook his head, not an ounce of fear showing as he drawled, "It's _annoying_."

Tenten twitched at him, her eyes narrowed intensely and her lips curved upside-down in a terrifying scowl – but then, all of a sudden she seemed to forget about Sasuke and whipped her head around to smile at the newcomer. "Hi Naruto, my name is Tenten."

"Uh… hi, Tenten."

"You have to go and make Hinata be _more_ cute, okay?"

"…Wha—" Behind Tenten's buns, Ino was over-exaggerating a nodding motion and shaking her head as if to say, 'don't say anything else, just say you'll do it oh my god we'll all die if you don't', "WELL," Naruto said, his blue eyes snapping back to meet her hazel ones, "I'll do my best."

"Yay~" Tenten cheered in a childish voice. She seemed to have the mind of an eight year old. Naruto was sure that she could be a lot more serious; she must have just been having a funny morning. He guessed that like himself, she might have ADHD for which she needed to be prescribed medication to c_alm the fuck down_.

His mind travelled back to the girl with the plum coloured hair – Neji's cousin. Hinata. Why had she reacted that way to him? Did he do something wrong? Did he look at her in a bad way or…? What had he done? The Uzumaki boy folded his arms whilst he thought. He had barely even touched his food. His eyes glanced up to one of the four digital clocks in the hall displaying the time. At eight, lessons would start… that was in ten minutes. Naruto groaned. He was so _bad _at school stuff. He barely knew his times-tables and his vocabulary was terrible. And with people like Sasuke, who appeared to be incredibly smart, likely to be in his classes, the blonde inmate was sure he would make a fool out of himself.

"Sasuke, you look so tired, sweetie, did you sleep properly?" Naruto heard Sakura's voice say softly to his cellmate who was sat opposite him. Naruto pretended to be very interested in examining his oatmeal with a spoon whilst he earwigged their conversation.

Sasuke sounded uncomfortable when he responded, "I can't sleep most nights," his voice said slowly, "it's too bright, too noisy."

"Noisy?" Sakura's voice questioned.

"You can hear everybody whispering; the sounds bounce off the walls."

"Oh, honey, why don't you ask Itachi to bring an iPod the next time he visits?" Why was she calling him 'sweetie' and 'honey'? Was she just one of those girls who were motherly enough to get away with it or were her and Sasuke something more? Sasuke had mentioned how he tended to push most girls away – he didn't seem like the type to be comfortable with those kinds of pet names. He was too closed up.

If Sakura and Sasuke had something going on, Naruto would be _so _bummed out. She was really cute. Like, _really _cute. And she seemed like she was nice too, even though she seemed to have balls of steel (Naruto recalled the way Sasuke had described how she had tried to intimidate the warden, Orochimaru, on her first day in Oto Juvenile Institute).

"Nah…" Sasuke responded without a further explanation. "Don't look at me like that."

A giggle sounded from Sakura at Sasuke's faintly annoyed tone, "Sorry."

"I'll catch it up, I always do." The dark haired teen responded quietly after a pause.

"I don't want you to end up with those migraines you used to get all over again, you know? It wasn't—"

Sasuke hushed the pink haired girl with a nudge. Clearly, that was something that he did not want discussed in front of other people.

_Migraines_? Sasuke didn't sleep properly… sometimes it really got that bad? Naruto had heard of nervous exhaustion, but he didn't think someone like Sasuke would end up with such painfully serious consequences from not sleeping properly. Damn, it must have been tough for the Uchiha.

Naruto wouldn't mention it to Sasuke – eavesdropping wasn't something he usually did. It was just that he didn't really know anyone yet and Sasuke was the person he needed to know the most about since he would be living with him for the next year. That was a viable excuse, right?

"Ugh, it's eight already?" Kiba's voice groaned as all around the hall, teens began to pull themselves out of their seats and file out of the dining hall, solemn glares plastered to their incredibly bored looking faces.

Naruto stood up and stared at Sasuke who stared back. "I'm going to follow you around today." The Uzumaki boy said.

"Oh." Sasuke didn't sound surprised at all. Emotion never sounded in his voice.

"Because I don't know where I'm supposed to go or anything." Naruto admitted quickly, glancing back down at the table as they began to file away from the bench.

Sasuke just grunted his response, "Hn."

Well, as long as Naruto was sure not to get on his bad side, Sasuke had no problem with the boy tailing him for the day. At least until he learnt the daily routine. Sasuke, honestly, did prefer being alone, and now that he had a cellmate, he was sure not to receive as much spare time as he usually had to think, to reflect… so as soon as the kid new the routine, Sasuke wouldn't be his lead anymore. He decided that right then and there as the group trailed out of the dining hall and across the grounds of the prison to the first classes of the day.

* * *

**note: **thanks for reading! please review, and i'll see you all next update. c:


	2. Chapter 2

**Two: C Block.**

The classroom was bleak and dull. Its walls were painted a washed out white that seemed to be turning grey all by itself. A few posters had been stuck at irritatingly wonky angles in an attempt to brighten the place up a bit. There were four rows and four columns of doubled up, grey desks – most of them covered in permanent graffiti to the point where they had become neglected and uncared for – as well as two seats per desk. The chairs were dark blue and plastic, with bars attached to the bottoms of them to stop students from leaning back on their chairs and breaking them.

Sasuke scored his usual favourite seat at the back of the classroom beside the wall, the darkest corner of the class where nobody would dare to disturb him whether he chose to do the work set or not. He folded his arms and rested his head on top of them, closing his impossibly heavy eyelids and waiting for whoever was supposed to be teaching today to appear. He heard the scrape of chair legs beside him and his eyes shot open.

He had been expecting Naruto's form to drop silently into the seat beside him, but he wasn't surprised to find that it wasn't Naruto who had decided to irritate him, but that the tiny person slotting themselves silently into the seat beside him was in fact, Sakura. He stared at her for a long moment.

The girl just folded her arms comfortably onto the desk and stared straight ahead. After another long moment of silence and Sasuke's staring blankly at her, the side of her lip quirked up. Sasuke smirked, folding his arms and twisting his body in his seat to give her the full force of his piercing gaze before asking, "What are you doing?"

Sakura paused before turning and smiling in a patronizingly friendly way, "Who, me? I'm just sitting here, waiting for Kurenai to show up."

Sasuke face stayed completely blank, but his tone was clipped as he asked, "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why here?"

Sakura snorted, "…Oh, I _do_ apologize, I didn't realize that the desk had your name on it—"

"_Actually,_" Sasuke cut in, "If you look at the side, my name's etched into the plastic. So you see, your sarcasm is flawed." With this, the Uchiha rested his elbow against the table and turned his head to the side, a smug look present where his thin lips curled against each other.

The pink haired girl rolled her eyes at him before sinking further into her chair, her bright green eyes focussed now on the prisoner's head in front of her and a sour pout forming on her lips. "I'm not moving."

Sasuke grunted. Truth be told, he didn't really _care _if she moved or not. As long as she didn't attempt to talk to him while he worked (or slept, he hadn't really decided what he would do this lesson. If worst came to worst, he probably would pass out, but he doubted that he would.) then it would all be fine. He didn't generally mind Sakura's company either, she was… fairly intelligent and she, unlike the majority of the girls – the _people_ – in the joint, seemed to respect the idea of personal space.

He looked at her now. Her small form was hunched right on the edge of her seat. Despite all of her confidence around him, she still seemed faintly shy when it came to… him. Or something. Sasuke didn't really know.

Before he was put into prison, Sasuke wasn't a very social young man. He preferred to be on his own a lot of the time; he liked to listen to music, play video games and smoke – just like any teenage boy. But the idea of having to socialize merged with the mind-numbing boredom that came with prison time and he had been forced to surround himself with people like Sakura just to keep him sane.

One would have thought that after a month of watching troubled teenagers interact with each other that Sasuke might have grasped the concept of how people behaved, but he was in fact still trying to figure himself out: his emotions, his thoughts… he wasn't used to them. Since Itachi had left for university, Sasuke had seen no need to pay attention to things like them. He didn't _need_ them. He didn't need school either, filled with the hundreds of mindless fan girls and bitches – not being able to focus on work because his brain was so fucked from smoking so much dope, even before classes! He had to pull himself out of his self-absorption to mind the other teenagers in the institution. He could no longer be selfish and silent – people took it badly, they got offended, they got shouty, fights broke out…

Kakashi had explained all of this to him when he was yanked out of one of his classes for unimaginatively cracking a boy in the mouth for calling him a 'fucking pyromaniac'. Sasuke… supposed that Kakashi was one of the guards that he didn't mind. Kakashi seemed to like Sasuke too; and Sasuke always went to him if he needed something… like a new lighter, for example.

Kurenai marched into the classroom, her uniform was immaculate: a dark grey pencil skirt with pale stockings and professional, shiny heels along with a dark grey blazer to match her skirt, a white, button up blouse and a red ribbon pulling her long, curly hair back whilst she taught. She wasn't a bad teacher at all, and she seemed to have the patience of two-hundred women, in Sasuke's opinion. Not that he cared. Tch.

Her voice, deep and controlled rang out across the room. This class was for the faster learning prisoners; it was called First Set, there were three others: Second Set, Third Set and Fourth Set, each varying the speed and difficulty of the work set. Sasuke's eyes didn't find Naruto when they subtly surveyed the classroom and he remembered him explaining that he wasn't very good with words when Sasuke had explained arson to him the evening before. That was fair enough.

"Good morning guys." Kurenai didn't wait for a response, "Okay, we're going to get straight back to what we were doing yesterday, page sixty-two on interquartile range, everybody got that?"

A collective groan came from the class. Sasuke smirked. He knew all of this stuff already. This was such a waste of time. He'd rather be back in his cell than re-learning it all. Besides that, who the fuck wanted to know about interquartile ranges and the like? When would they ever be needed in life? And more importantly – when would they ever be needed in _prison_? God.

Sasuke returned to face planting his folded arms and attempted mentally to block out the sound from the classroom. It was fairly surprising how well behaved they were. It seemed that almost everybody in the First Set was motivated for working – it gave them something to do, Sasuke supposed. Or maybe they were just naturally good people who got into bad patches. Like him… a straight A student gone bad. Meh. Who knew?

"Sasuke, head up please," Kurenai's voice called.

"No." Sasuke called back, purposely putting a sleepy slur into his speech so that she would let him off and let him continue with his do-nothing approach to the next two hours.

For once, she was persistent, "Sasuke, please get on with the work."

"I already know all of this." He responded, bringing his head up for the last time, glaring hideously at her for having _dared _disturbing him.

She stepped over to his desk, she folded her arms and stared at him, her scarlet eyes narrowed and thoughtful. She wasn't glaring hatefully or anything, it just seemed that she was troubled, as though she had no idea what to do with him.

It was true, most of the inmates were uneducated; there were only a small minority that were intelligent enough to have been placed in the First Set, even though there were hundreds of kids inside the prison.

"Is there anything you're actually interested in, Sasuke?" The red-eyed woman asked, "Because you can't just sit here and do nothing every lesson. It's such a waste of time."

The Uchiha smirked, "A waste of time?" He repeated, "Learning the same work over? I did it all in school. There's nothing that I can think of that strikes me as interesting either. Jail's a waste of time." He said with finality.

Kurenai sighed before reaching above him and dropping a history book onto his desk which sounded with a loud thud causing a few of the students on surrounding desks to glance over. Sasuke shot them all a glare suggesting that they fuck off and they returned to their work. "If you do nothing else today, at least have a look at some of the stuff in here. I think you'll like some of the things in there."

"I don't like anything." He muttered in response as Kurenai turned on her heel and stalked off to help someone on the other side of the room. "Tch." Sasuke hissed through his teeth.

"I find it ironic how she's giving you books to read." Sakura commented lightly. Sasuke shot the pink haired girl a sideways glance. Of course she was talking about the infamous tale of his setting three school libraries on fire. Sasuke shrugged. He didn't ever react to when people asked or talked to him about those incidents. It had been a selfish thing to do… but he still didn't care. At least it had gotten him out of that house.

The Uchiha family were wealthy; Sasuke's father was the head of law and order in Konoha. A judge. He had worked himself up from the police force and had dedicated his life to serving the citizens of Konoha. Sasuke's older brother, Itachi, had been tipped to follow in the footsteps of his father. He was studying Law in university right now, actually.

And whenever Sasuke thought about that, he stopped thinking, because thinking about that made him feel utterly worthless because Itachi was such a god-send to his famous family whereas he was sitting in a youth institution in Oto with nothing to do but simmer in these repetitive, cycling thoughts.

"Sasuke," Sakura's voice brought him rushing back to reality and he realized that he'd been staring at her hand for the past minute or so, "what's on your mind?" She asked him gently.

The Uchiha boy calmly returned his gaze to the book that Kurenai had dropped onto his desk and he shook his head, "Nothing." He answered quietly.

He saw Sakura stare thoughtfully at him out of the corner of his eye, her bright green eyes were narrowed and calculating underneath dark pink eyelashes – wait, what? So… pink eyelashes? Was that her natural colour? Fuck no. Nobody's born with pink hair, tch.

"What about you?" He murmured after a long moment of silence as Sakura returned to her work. She glanced over at him, waiting for him to elaborate.

When he didn't respond, she questioned dryly, "What?"

"You've never told anyone what you're here for. Tell me." Sasuke said simply, as though the mere interest in his tone would bring the answer that everybody wanted. The pink haired girl's eyes widened faintly before she closed them and shook her head.

"You've never told anybody why you burnt those libraries down, why should I tell you what I'm in for?"

Sasuke's lips involuntarily quirked into a smirk, "Hn," he grunted, not continuing the conversation and resting his head back on the table, his eyes shut. He probably wouldn't be telling anyone about why he was locked up for setting libraries on fire – what his motive was – anytime soon. Truthfully, Sasuke wasn't really sure why he had done it himself.

He had mentally blamed it on the way that the teachers at school were so ignorant; he'd then blamed it on the fact that he didn't like the school. The last time, Sasuke decided to mentally admit to himself that he had done it because he wanted something – although he wasn't entirely sure what. He knew that he wanted his brother to come see him, but thinking back on everything, _everything,_ over the past few weeks – what was the _real _point?

The two hours that followed passed dully. Sasuke managed to pass out twice from sheer exhaustion but was awoken each time that Kurenai came to see how Sakura was doing. The study period was such a bore. Sasuke wasn't really even sure why he attended classes at all anymore. His brain was so numbed from the endless routine that the hundreds of teenagers followed everyday that he couldn't really find any other way to pass the time.

He'd skipped classes before but found that it was the easiest way to be stalked by Orochimaru, the warden – and he didn't want that. Ew.

The teenagers pulled themselves heavily out of the ugly, faded grey door with the paint peeling from its wood and out into the fresh, but as always smothered with anger, depression, violence, hormones teen filled spirit air.

Sakura stepped in time with Sasuke; he was faintly surprised that the tiny girl could even keep up with his long strides but he was used to it by now. Sakura was a close… _acquaintance _of his in Oto. She had this weird way of calling him things and getting away with it. It was that, or he was just used to it. In front of people, she talked to him as though she were more than a friend, but when it was just the two of them, she simply called him Sasuke.

He suspected that her habit of calling him pet names meant that she liked him. It was something that he had noticed she'd do whenever in the presence of other females. And she was always close to him, possessive with him. Karin had been like that before, so had Ino. He'd only known Sakura for a short time though, and he wasn't particularly interested in her.

He just liked the way she dressed.

She followed Sasuke from the classroom, all the way to the dormitory hall and waited for him to grab his cigarettes before walking silently and swiftly with him onto the yard. Sasuke decided that he really needed to start bringing them with him down to breakfast – it would waste a lot less time than usual. Added to that, he probably wouldn't be so cranky each morning.

The Uchiha lit up his paper, taking a long drag and releasing it into the cool air. Sakura glanced up at him as they came to a stop in the middle of the yard. Their group was nowhere to be seen. Neji would have been in their last class, but he always went to find Tenten immediately. Karin also should have been in their last class, but she had been levelled down for disruptive behaviour (she kicked a boy in the head for mentioning her glasses. Sasuke had made a mental note to keep away from her during her insecure moments).

Sakura reached up and fiddled with the ends of her pink hair; she seemed a little lost and unsure of why she was here. Sasuke's mind felt as though it were racing with thoughts overtime as he tried to discover a subject worth talking about inside his head. He couldn't really find anything and so he said confidently and calmly, "My brother went away to university."

Sakura's head shot up so that she could survey his face and try to get a clue at what he was talking about. It appeared to hit her, "Oh, you've decided to answer my question from earlier?"

Sasuke took another slow drag, body swaying faintly on his feet before turning to face her properly. His darker-than-midnight hair fell across his forehead and made his obsidian eyes appear even darker than they were. His chapped lips parted for her as he continued his explanation, "My father's expectations of me rose. Being in school surrounded by fools was pressurizing so… I tried to get out." The Uchiha boy shrugged and brought the cigarette to his lips once more. Remembering the events before he had been put into the youth institution, Sasuke smirked. "My father was livid – broke a mirror in my honour, the glass was everywhere."

Everywhere was true; he had had to pick a rather large chunk of it out of the top of his arm, which hadn't been a pleasant experience to say the least. An ugly 'X' shaped mark marred his flesh there now which was sure to scar before it ever vanished.

Sakura whistled through her teeth, "Bit of a madman, your dad."

"No kidding."

"I'm still not telling you why I'm here," She grinned up at him teasingly, "I don't work your way, Sasuke."

The Uchiha stared passively at the girl, a faint hint of annoyance in his eyes, "What's your deal?" He asked.

"Hm?" She smiled lightly, turning her head around as she spun absent-mindedly on her feet, like a delicate little fairy, or a dandelion seed in the wind – only, a convicted one.

Sasuke stared with his eyes faintly narrowed, calculating, at her. His black eyes were locked with her bright green and after a moment he nodded, lips parted and a faint chuckle sliding from his mouth, "Tricky girl."

"I'll tell everyone when I feel ready to tell everyone; I'm still trying to come to terms with it myself." She added softly.

At this, Sasuke decided he had better drop the subject. Everybody had their secrets and the ones that people kept because their emotions had locked them away were not the kind of stories that Sasuke wished to hear. The majority of the girls in the prison were forced to act tough to defend themselves, so they locked everything away. Sasuke didn't even know the real names of some of them. They called themselves by nicknames and pretended lied about their crimes.

The reason he knew that they were lying? Because they came out with the absolute worst _bullshit_. Sasuke only really associated with Sakura, Karin, Ino, Hinata and Tenten because that was the group that the nine of them had created; they were sure they were the only group of non-bullshitting teenagers in B Block. They now had Naruto, though, and he was the tenth member – even though he'd only been here for a day, as Sasuke's cellmate, he was automatically in the group. That was just the way it was.

Sasuke dropped his cigarette to the ground and crushed its smoking remains with the sole of his foot. He then looked around the grounds, his eyes searching for the colourful array of hair that his "group" had. He couldn't find Karin's fiery red, or Ino or Naruto's fluorescent blondes, or Suigetsu's curious, insane looking white, or Kiba, Tenten and Neji's set of brunette, or Hinata's plum coloured hair.

He could only see Sakura's. He frowned. "Where is everybody?"

"I was wondering that too."

Sakura and his self both surveyed the groups of teenagers milling around the vast, flat, concrete yard. None of them could be seen. That wasn't really odd, they tended to separate during breaks, especially Neji and Tenten, they were always on their own, but…

"Sakura." Sasuke muttered, not looking at her. The words that were about to follow from his mouth sounded silly inside his head, he was afraid they'd sound even more peculiar once they'd passed his lips. Sakura waited, raising her head and looking at him with curiosity.

Sasuke supposed he was being weird or something. Perhaps he'd left the pause between his words and his thoughts too long, "Do you ever think that Oto's more than a prison?" He frowned; even he wasn't sure what he had meant by that.

Sakura shrugged, "I think I know what you're talking about but I don't want to say anything in case I'm not."

"Hn," Sasuke grunted dully, he wasn't sure how to continue, "A Block houses repetitively violent offenders, doesn't it?"

"Yes…"

"And B Block houses us; done in for crimes like physical offenses and property damage, you know, the more minor things."

"Correct…"

"But nobody knows what C Block houses." Sasuke murmured, "Kakashi wouldn't tell me; the warden told me to mind my own business when I asked."

Sakura grimaced at a thought inside her head, "Come to think of it, C Block is totally closed off – well, so is A Block, but C Block's like, completely walled away from us seeing it, isn't it?" The two turned to the great, grey brick margin that cut off what was known as C Block's courtyard from the rest of the world. "Maybe it's a creepy science lab, you know? Orochimaru's pretty famous for his 'reforms' of kids who come here. _Maybe _he experiments on the prisoners here and doses them so that they don't remember they were ever treated!"

Sasuke smirked. It wouldn't have surprised him if Sakura had been correct in hinting that Orochimaru experimented on his prisoners, the old man was obsessed with psychology and the minds of teenagers, especially the ones, like Sasuke and Naruto, who were driven to do bad things. It was a strange interest of his, and whenever Sasuke met with the aging creep, he was questioned on his thoughts, his sleeping patterns, his dreams – but Sasuke never told him the truth.

"I wouldn't put it past him." Sasuke replied, the smirk not leaving his lips. Sakura giggled, "But like I said, I think Oto's '_institution_' is a little bit more than they say it is. That building – I believe that it's filled with criminally _fucked_ teenage psychopaths."

Sakura stared at Sasuke for a long moment, her eyes were wide and she glanced from him to the huge, grey wall before returning and resting her gaze on him. "But— no way!"

"The only flaw with this idea is that, well, surely they wouldn't just call this place a juvenile institution; wouldn't it be an asylum as well?"

"…Maybe 'Oto Juvenile Institution and Asylum' wasn't a snappy enough name." Sakura suggested dully. Sasuke smirked again, faintly amused.

Sasuke dropped the subject then and there, but the thought stayed with him throughout the day. At lunch, when the group had brought themselves back together for a meal, Sasuke could hardly focus on the topic of conversation – it was about Naruto settling in fast, but Sasuke didn't really care – his eyes drifted to the immense glass windows that ran from the floor to the ceiling of the dining hall and looked out onto the B Block courtyard; to the right, C Block's gargantuan, grey wall continually caught his attention.

"Oi, Uchiha," Kiba tapped the space in front of Sasuke with his fork to get the dark haired boys' attention, "do you think if Naruto fought me, he'd win?"

The Uchiha stared dully at Kiba and then even more dully at Naruto before giving his verdict, "It's pretty evenly matched."

"I could take him!" The blonde boy squawked. He was joking, but threats of fights within the prison usually did lead to actual fights and Sasuke looked desperately to Sakura, hoping she'd change the subject.

She got the message and groaned loudly and deliberately, splaying her arms across the table and sounding incredibly mortified about something. Her hand flipped and grabbed onto the Uchiha teen's upper arm. Sasuke wasn't really expecting that. Sakura never touched him. He stared down at the top of her pink head whilst she whined into his arm.

"Ugh, I've got a therapy session with _Orochimaaaaruuuu _later, Sasuke, _save meeee_."

"Damn, you two are getting closer by the day, huh?" Ino grinned, placing her chin in the palm of her hand and smiling at Sasuke and the small pink ball of hair attached to his arm. Her eyelids were lowered suggestively.

Sasuke frowned, "Um, no." He said simply before nudging Sakura (gently) out of his personal space and jabbing the air that flowed in her general direction with a fork.

Sakura pouted. Sasuke smirked whilst artfully twisting the fork in his fingers and stabbing it into a vegetable floating in the mysterious soup he'd chosen to eat today. Ino cooed lightly, but was silenced when both Sasuke and Sakura shot her a hideous glare.

"Hinata… he won't bite." Karin was reasoning with her lilac eyed friend a couple of seats away. Naruto had gone to the bathroom and so the redhead now had a chance to pep-talk her little friend. Sasuke smirked. _Match-making already._

"B-but… Karin, that's the thing! He… he just well might!" At this, Sasuke snorted. Hinata hung her head in shame, her long, plum coloured locks shielding her tinted pink cheeks. Karin sighed.

"Look, Hinata, if you just look at him, you'll see, he isn't that bad."

"Who…? N-Naruto?"

"Yes."

"Naruto's my cellmate, Hyuuga," Sasuke drawled lightly to her, his endlessly dark eyes almost magnetising with her own pale orbs. "He's almost in here by accident and wouldn't hurt a fly."

Hinata blushed even harder than before and began pressing the tips of her forefingers together awkwardly. "Y-you see, Sasuke, it isn't just… that stuff… it's… it's…" Sasuke frowned; she seemed to have so much trouble getting her words out.

"SHE THINKS HE'S REALLY CUTE." Tenten burst out from the other side of the table. Sasuke's head whipped around to see if she was telling the truth, which she probably was, since those girls barely kept a thing from each other. The brunette girl smiled and nodded, oblivious to Hinata's terrified face behind Sasuke's mess of spiky, midnight coloured hair. The Uchiha's eyes fell from Tenten's honey brown ones to Sakura's wide green ones. She seemed to have the same thought in mind as Sasuke and the pair of them leant in synchronised fashion towards Karin and Hinata.

The Hyuuga girl cowered in fear under the ruby, emerald and obsidian beams from the three seemingly sane teenagers as they grinned – and smirked – menacingly at her.

"Poor Hinata," Suigetsu chuckled from beside Karin. His face was held in his hands and his amethyst eyes were shut in amusement whilst his spiky canine stuck out of his mouth as he grinned, "even Sasuke's on to you."

The Uchiha suddenly realize how much of a creep he must have looked and slowly, coolly, lowered himself back into his seat, taking Sakura with him as his hip nudged hers. She glanced at him for a fraction of a second, but he pretended not to see. The touching was awkward enough. Sasuke looked over at Karin and noticed that behind her, in the distance, Naruto had entered the hall once again.

"Karin, move up." Sasuke hissed to the redhead as the blonde teenager approached. He had his hands in his pockets and smiled at the group as he sat down.

"You were all talking about me, weren't you?" He questioned bluntly after a short moment of silence. Everybody visibly shifted, and Hinata, opposite him, had turned bright scarlet. Sasuke knew what was coming but decided he had better not do anything to stop it, it would have been too awkward to explain. "Whoa, Hinata—are you okay?" The blonde asked, leaning closely across the table to get a glimpse of the little girl's face from underneath her curtain of dark hair.

The lilac eyed girl chanced a single glance up at Naruto before gracefully flopping forwards onto the table, but not before colliding foreheads with the blonde boy. Sasuke sighed and Sakura quietly got up to try and revive her friend. During incidents like this, which occurred regularly, the group preferred not to let any staff members know about Hinata's state. They'd always drag her off to the infirmary and it wasn't something the group liked to watch or wait for a response from.

"Dude—" Naruto began, Sasuke poised his hand, ready to clamp it over the blonde's face in the event of— "DUDE! OH HOLY SHMISHSMG—"

"Shut _up _idiot, it's nothing to freak out over." Sasuke hissed poisonously against the blonde's head. After a second, Naruto stopped wriggling and after another second, Sasuke released him, an ominous glare locked against the blonde's bright blue eyes to warn him not to start up again.

"She has high blood pressure," Sakura explained quickly, not taking her hand away from Hinata's face as she tried to fan her into consciousness, "you have to be very calm with her, understand?"

Sasuke watched Naruto carefully, looking for any signs of _anything_ that Naruto may have felt towards Hinata at that moment in time. He studied the way that the blonde's eyebrows arched in a concerned way and he watched with his hand over his mouth as the little violet-haired girl began to stir.

It was then that Sasuke realized that he had a set of eyes on him, and his vision shot from the scarred, tanned face of Naruto Uzumaki to the perfectly pale, flawless flesh and glittering eyes belonging to Sakura. Her exotic appearance was still something that the Uchiha boy enjoyed to look at, even if he would never admit it. He admired the way that she was so ferocious for the most part, but always so gentle when it came to something she cared about.

"Is she alive?" Naruto asked Sakura.

The girl with the pink hair stared directly a him for a moment longer before she turned to Naruto, "What? Hinata? Yes, she is very much alive. Don't you worry, Naruto."

"Was it my fault that she fainted?"

"Not exactly… I suppose partially but it could also have been the influence of me and Karin and," she paused. It was for a heartbeat but Sasuke noticed it, "Sasuke."

"Why? What were you doing?" Naruto questioned.

"We were in a heated debate about sex okay." Karin intercepted as Sakura opened her mouth. "I wouldn't expect you to know anything about it, though, blondie. Perhaps you and Hinata could go sit away from us whenever we have these conversations. That way, she won't faint, and you won't have your pretty mind disturbed to such extremities."

"I," Naruto suddenly interrupted grandly, "know about _sex_." He drawled.

Sasuke planted his face in his hands out of utter amazement at how un-subtle the kid was. It was unbelievable. Perhaps he was just thick. But even Kiba would have understood something like that; the words that Karin had let rush from her lips up until the point where she had mentioned Naruto and Hinata sitting by themselves where she had murmured the words a lot more slowly and perceptively for Naruto to grasp before continuing – _anyone _could have taken that hint.

"No," Sasuke said into his hands, "I don't think you know about anything, Naruto."

"WHAT—?" The blonde roared, half playful, half serious. Sasuke shrugged and returned his attention to Sakura as she pulled Hinata up and made her look dazedly at Naruto. The blonde boy calmed himself immediately, smiling awkwardly and rubbing the back of his neck with his hands, "Ehe, sorry if I scared you, Hinata!" He apologized cheerfully.

Sakura nodded her approval of his new approach once to Naruto from out of Hinata's line of vision.

Sasuke's thoughts drifted throughout lunch until the teenagers went back for their final hour of lessons before they'd split for their free time. The Uchiha, now fully awake after his, erm, nap in the past few hours actually attempted some work - although it wasn't anything like the rest of the class was doing, he was just sketching because he had nothing better to do.

Sakura babbled about anything that seemed to come to mind. She knew not to disturb Sasuke in the mornings, but now that he actually seemed calm - not glaring and spitting replies - she also relaxed. She was no longer on the edge of her seat, in fact, she had turned her chair slightly in his direction so as to face him. He listened to her chatter, occasionally grunting in response, but not really paying attention.

His mind was elsewhere, as usual. However for once, it was not focussed on things that caused him to get pissed off. It was lost somewhere with the image that was slowly appearing on the page. A softly smiling - almost laughing face with big, dark eyes and long strands of shiny hair. Sakura asked if it was his mother, but he ignored her. He didn't know why he'd drawn her. He supposed he just... missed her. Maybe. He definitely missed her home cooking. But each time she'd visited him, she'd cried and cried. She almost acted as if she were mourning the dead.

After Itachi, his mother, Mikoto, was the next person in the whole world that Sasuke ever felt close to. So... yeah... perhaps he did miss her. A little bit.

"Whoever she is, she's gorgeous." Sakura cooed quietly, "I mean, I thought she was your mom because she looks like you, sorry if I offended you or anything."

Sasuke smirked, "Gorgeous? Looks like me? Thanks, Sakura."

The pink haired Haruno gave him a small pout before realizing how he'd put two and two together and looked away, giggling shyly. "Yeah, right." She rolled her eyes, "You only wish I'd call you gorgeous."

"I don't wish it," Sasuke snorted, "I know you think it."

"Oh really?" The smaller girl raised an eyebrow, leaning closer and scrunching her nose up at him.

The Uchiha raised both brows before murmuring, "Yeah really."

"Well that's interesting, because I don't." Sakura breathed a laugh so close he felt the air against his throat.

"Sasuke, Sakura, break it up." Kurenai called. The pink haired girl almost fell out of her chair and snapped her neck at the speed she spun away from him, but he, more composed than she, simply brought a hand up to rest his chin on and turned his nose into the air.

The moment the teacher's back was turned, both Sasuke and Sakura glared daggers at the other gawking prisoners. Honestly, how long would it take for people to learn to fuck the fuck off?

But more importantly... what had just _happened_? He glanced down. She was on the edge of her seat again, not looking at him, not saying a word. Well, well. She really _was_ the shy and embarrassed type. It was no wonder how she and Hinata got along so well.

Sasuke was a bitter person. He also liked to watch people squirm like ants under magnifying glasses, but he didn't apply this part of him to Sakura. She was, as previously mentioned, somewhat important to him and rather than make her feel uncomfortable and have her mind race, he distracted her with a question.

"So you're with Orochimaru later, huh?"

Sakura spared him a glance before returning to her work, "Yeah."

Sasuke stared at the ceiling thoughtfully. He didn't get the vibe that she wanted to talk about it. "Hn."

The silence that followed bode that they were both thinking the same thing. The topic from earlier was stuck in their minds. Sakura, however, was the one to actually say it. "It's... almost strange how the warden interviews us all personally. You'd think he'd have more important stuff to do, wouldn't you?"

Sasuke nodded once. "My thoughts exactly…"

* * *

**notes: **thanks for the reviews, you guys! and thanks for reading. so what are your thoughts on the mysterious c block? i'd like to hear your theories. c; c; if you read this, review! it'd be awesome to see who's actually here.


	3. Chapter 3

**Three: Impulsive.**

As she stepped slowly into the office, Sakura felt a small amount of self-confidence leave her. During her time in the institute, she had built up a cocky, assured exterior almost to protect herself from the overbearing personalities of the other inmates. However, she had never really been alone.

Since her first day in the institute, Karin and Ino had watched her back. As she made more friendships with the others, they watched her back too. And she watched theirs. There wasn't ever a moment when Sakura had felt her self-assured exterior crack… until now.

She had been in this office once before, when she had arrived. She'd been almost too edgy upon entering the juvenile hall and had, to put it lightly, lost her shit with everyone and anyone who talked to her. Unfortunately for him, the warden didn't seem to understand that. In fact, she was so wound up by his slippery voice and sly remarks that she had… well… caused a bit of a problem inside the office.

She'd been half-dragged to the cell where she met Karin by the great lout of a guard an Orochimaru's right-hand man, Kabuto. It would have been an understatement to say that she didn't make a scene for her first night. Luckily, Karin hadn't judged her too harshly and had taken her under her wing.

It didn't take her long to make friends. The redhead with whom she shared her cell happened to be acquainted with a large group of somewhat sane teenagers. Their easy vibes and light banter made them seem almost harmless despite the crimes with which they had been charged. The nine of them were often held under the misconception that they were a gang since they refused to associate with many other prisoners, but really, they were just the same as any lone teen behind the prison walls.

But now, as she sat in the ebony and purple chair, glowering at the cobalt blue walls, she felt a shiver run down her spine. Orochimaru, the warden of Oto Juvenile Institute sat opposite her, golden eyes scrutinizing every single movement she made. "Haruno," He spoke softly, "how are you settling in?"

* * *

Sasuke sat in the courtyard atop a worn picnic bench. An unlit cigarette was held between his pale lips as he flicked the black clipper, flame rising and vanishing with every firm flick of his thumb. His eyes were gazing blankly at the grey sky, trying to focus on that silver lining that everybody talked about. He couldn't see it. All he saw were sheets of silver.

With a quiet sigh, he returned to lighting the stick between his lips, sliding the clipper back into his pocket. It had been a stress-free day today. Almost. Until he spotted a blonde and orange blur sprinting in his direction, yelling his name. Sasuke made no effort to slide from the top of the bench, he just waited for Naruto to come to him.

"S-Sasuke!" The boy panted.

Sasuke stared vacantly at him for a moment. "Yes?" He enquired, a small amount of smoke leaving his mouth with the word.

The blonde looked around, his scar-marred face appeared desperate and worried, and confused all at once. Sasuke now began to sense that something was wrong. He didn't show it, though. He just stepped off of the top of the table and began to unknot the sleeves of his grey overalls around his waist. "Listen man," Naruto breathed, tone still panicked, "Ino told me to come and get you."

"Right…" He murmured, removing the cigarette from between his lips as he shrugged the top half of his one-piece of his right shoulder, and then swapping it to his other hand as he did the same for his left.

"I don't know what happened, but— you— Sakura." He finally managed to say.

Sasuke's cigarette now sat between his lips as he waited for the blonde to continue, rolling his sleeves up as he did. "What about her?"

"She— she's on a mad one, Sasuke. The girls don't know what to do so... Ino just said to get you." He panted.

The Uchiha rolled his eyes, "What does she expect _me_ to do?"

Naruto shrugged, "I— I don't know, man. I don't know! But I don't want her to yell at me again, so can you please just— you know… _do_ _something_?" The blonde begged. Sasuke gave him a long, serious stare. The boy looked desperate. What could possibly have made him appear so anxious when he'd swaggered so calmly into the institution yesterday?

"Let's go." Sasuke muttered, crushing the remains of the still smoking nicotine stick with his foot as he and Naruto swept out of the bleak yard. A few prisoners still wandered about the place, ignorant to the knot of concern building inside of the Uchiha.

He didn't remember Sakura's first night because she had showed up to the institute looking like some rocker babe, because she wasn't the only girl in the world who looked that way. He didn't remember Sakura's first night because she was cellmates with his closest friend at the time. He didn't remember Sakura's first night because she had some crazy hair, because a lot of the girls who rocked up to the institute were odd-looking. He remembered her first night because he had been half asleep, intent on getting his first good rest in days, when he heard a piercing shriek as the newest recruit to Orochimaru's teen reform appeared. She wasn't the first person to roll into the place kicking and screaming, however, she _was _the first to remain kicking and screaming until the next morning.

Nobody got to sleep that night. Not even Shikamaru, renowned for sleeping through almost everything. Sasuke remembered her first night because she had thrown a serious tantrum, and survived Karin's temper.

Now, as he and Naruto entered the hall filled with the hundreds of cells, males to the window side and females to the wall side, he heard the same obnoxious yelling and intense screaming as he had on her first night. Sasuke was almost tempted to turn around and forget the entire situation, but he was curious. He wondered, now that he knew Sakura fairly well, how such a kind-hearted girl could turn into such a monster.

He glanced around the hall – no guards. Even at a time like this? _Che, figures._

Without a second thought, he scaled the metal steps onto the first level of the girls' cells. A few of them lay on their beds, annoyed expressions but otherwise staying out of it, whilst others peered around to see what was happening. Sasuke kept his eyes straight ahead to the small crowd at the end of the platform where the obvious disturbance was coming from.

He caught sight of Karin's bright red hair and appeared beside her, "What's going on?" He murmured.

The crimson-eyed girl shot him a glance, "Don't know, man, but she's fuckin' lost it." She spat, rolling her sleeve back to reveal a line of bloody scratch marks. Not much, but for Karin to not be returning those marks was something else. "I didn't fight back 'cause she's acting like a spaz. Warden must have pissed her off."

Sasuke nodded once, listening to the conversation now being had between Ino and the pinkette.

"Come on, Sakura, I'm your friend, right? Just relax—"

"Just get _away_ from me. All of you! Now!" Sakura yelled. Sasuke could tell she was on the verge of getting hysterical, he had heard the same tone from his mother when his dad had decided to send him here and they'd fought.

"What's wrong with you—?" Ino tried again, still softly.

"Fuck off!" Sasuke heard her voice crack with the shout. He wondered if she was crying or if her throat was just tired of all the yelling.

"I thought you might be able to cool her down since she likes you so much." Karin told him, "Please? I don't want to be murdered in my sleep."

He nodded once, "Just get everybody to back off." He muttered before stepping forward and parting the small crowd. He pulled Ino behind him and stood face to face with the seething pinkette. He could tell that she was stressed. Her hair was out of place and her eyes were hard.

"Go away, Sasuke." She hissed.

"No." He replied simply.

"I mean it!" She shouted. Her tiny form was almost shaking with the sheer effort of it.

"I don't care."

She stood her ground as he approached her, hands in his pockets. For a moment, he was less than a foot away from her. She didn't seem to like it. A fist flew, but Sasuke, ever the casual one, simply raised a hand and caught it, tilting his head to get a better look at her. She fumed. A second set of tiny, alabaster knuckles launched towards him. Sasuke didn't bother catching this one. He just cancelled the punch out with her own wrist, moving the hand he already had in his grasp and stopping it before it had a chance to impact. In a single move, he twisted his hand until he had both of her wrists between his fingers. It was just lucky that she was so slender; otherwise it might not have worked.

Her eyes flickered down and then back up. Sasuke knew she'd try to kick him next and got her to walk backwards, all the way to the edge of the platform until she was leaning backwards over the iron balustrade. The anger faded from her eyes to be replaced with fear. She was on her toes trying to keep balance and her two hands clinging to his. "That's enough." He murmured.

She nodded, expression terrified, until he slowly pulled her back up. The moment she was standing safely, Sakura… fell apart. Not in the hysterical way he'd expected. She just gripped the fabric around his arms and pressed her head against his chest, quiet gasps escaping her lips. Without thinking, Sasuke shielded her from the curious eyes of the masses on both sides of the hall and pulled her into a tight… _maybe_ even comforting embrace.

They stayed like that, with his arms wrapped around her and her hands pressed to her eyes until she stepped back, "Sorry." She whispered.

Sasuke realized he was still holding her and let go, hands instinctively going to his pockets, "What happened?" He asked, still quiet. Before she answered, he led the way into her cell away from the eyes of the others. He knew that girls like her hated to be seen crying… and it was kind of awkward for him, one of the most anti-social people in the joint, to be seen looking after distraught adolescents. "What happened?" He repeated once they were inside.

"I just…" She turned away, "I _hate_ him _so _much, Sasuke." She ground out. He guessed she was still fighting tears.

He leant against the cold, brick wall, knee bent, one foot pressed to the grey slab, hands in his pockets, and shrugged. "I hate him too, but I don't throw a tantrum every time I see him." She didn't answer. The Uchiha sighed, "What are you in here for, Sakura?"

For a long time, silence filled their space. The usual noise of the inmates outside returned – laughter, shouts, as if nothing had happened. Sasuke sauntered around her small form and stood, towering over her once more. She didn't look up at him. She'd covered her eyes with her hands again. He tilted his head, frowning as, slowly, impulsively, he raised his fingers and brushed them over hers, gently pulling them away from her face.

Her fingers found their way between his and Sasuke watched her as she traced the scars on his knuckles, "That's… why you don't punch people." He breathed.

She smiled, finally looking at him. Something happened, right at that moment. And Sasuke and Sakura forgot where they were. The air caught in their throats as they locked gazes. Their faces were just inches apart. The tip of his nose grazed hers and he felt her breath almost fan across his neck—

"So, Sakura, you feelin' better?" Sasuke made a swift diversion, eyes meeting with the concrete floor, releasing Sakura's hands, but not fast enough for the redhead through the bars. "Oh. My. Go— okay, don't worry, I'll give you two some alone time, don't even worry— I mean, I'm sorry…" She sped off in the direction she came from, but the Uchiha and the pinkette had already separated.

Sasuke didn't know who to curse. Himself, for even letting that happen, or Karin for stopping it right before… right before… "Sasuke?"

"I, uh," He decided to curse himself for faltering, "I'm glad you're okay, Sakura." He told her softly, not catching her eye and leaving the cell without another word. He passed a seriously guilty looking Karin but held no hard feelings for her interruption. She had just wanted to check on her friend. He was just… confused. Like, what exactly had just happened?

He was out of the hall in moments, head down, eyes focussed on the tips of his white plimps and counting each step to distract his mind. He had worked out long ago that the best way to distract one's self from their thoughts was to try and find a friend and talk to them about anything _but_ that which was on one's mind.

As if by coincidence, a familiar face appeared just as Sasuke rounded another corner, "Sasuke, you're in a hurry."

"Kakashi." The Uchiha greeted, putting on a lazy smirk, "I was just going for some fresh air."

"Fresh air? Isn't it almost curfew?" The silver-haired guard asked, suspicious.

"Isn't it your job not to rock up to guarding the hall three hours late?" Sasuke shot back.

Kakashi's one eye not hidden by the strange, dark headband that he always wore creased at the sides. Sasuke presumed he was smiling, although he could never be entirely sure with the man's odd dress-sense; namely the mask that covered his face from the very bridge of his nose down. Either that or he had a phobia of germs. "Touché." He said. "But you still have to be inside of your cell by curfew."

Sasuke gave his elder an almost pleading look, but it seemed that Kakashi was having none of it. He muttered for the youngster to get going. "Listen, just because you and I do each other favours from time to time… it doesn't mean we can abuse the liberties we take. Understand?"

The teen nodded, reluctantly turning on his heel and following the silver-haired guard back through the shadowy corridors. The fluorescent lights that hung overhead flickered, bulbs worn and neglected. Some had been smashed earlier in the month and not replaced. Sasuke barely noticed it anymore, but it did give the place the condemned vibe of hopelessness in the evenings.

Once back inside the hall, Sasuke crossed it with Kakashi on his heels. He must have looked like a fool, leaving the great chamber only to be brought back by one of the guards. He made his way silently up the metal steps, his footsteps barely making a sound. That was just one of the things he had always done: walked noiselessly. It helped in the cell block, gave him a dangerously still aura.

Sasuke was sure that if he hadn't known how to defend himself, he would have become prey for some of the other inmates. He was good looking, young, and his attitude made the others feel inferior to him. A couple had tried to fight him, some still made taunting comments as if to rile him, but it didn't get to him anymore. He'd almost given up with some of these people. After watching other inmates receive the same treatment as him, he decided that they were just playing childish games to give them 'bad' reputations.

"Lights will go out in one hour." Kakashi yelled once Sasuke had slipped into his cell. He hadn't looked to the other side of the hall since getting here. He didn't know why. He shouldn't have felt as awkward as he did about… her. He'd just… whatever. It was just a spur of the moment thing. He'd forget about it soon.

"That was pretty smooth, what you did with Sakura." Naruto commented from his bunk. Sasuke didn't respond. "Like _no one_ expected you'd do that. For one, help out at all, and second, stop her so easily. Not even Karin could get near her. I mean, I don't know the girl that well but from what you said, she's tough, right?" When he didn't answer (his mouth was full of toothpaste), the blonde tried again. "But I guess you and Sakura are close anyway so—"

"Shut up." Sasuke muttered, mouth still kind of occupied with a toothbrush. Naruto didn't speak again.

The blonde boy frowned, folding his arms and leaning against the wall. He decided not to talk about Sakura again. He had no idea why Sasuke's mood had changed so rapidly, but he wasn't going to try and irritate the older boy anymore. If he wanted to be all temperamental, fine. Naruto wouldn't end up in a fight over it. He supposed that this was just the way Sasuke was.

He had worked out that the Uchiha wasn't exactly a morning person. He wouldn't try to bug him in the mornings. After food and a smoke, his spirits did seem to lift. It was the evenings that Naruto would have to be careful of. The night before, Sasuke had been talkative despite his initially unfriendly greeting. But now… he'd said two words and hopped onto the top bunk, completely silent. Strange. Maybe he'd dry up by the morning.

It didn't end up that way, however. For the rest of the week, being around Sasuke was like walking on thin ice. He spoke to nobody and everybody else decided to keep their distance. It wasn't like he was publically admitting 'go away, I'm pissed off'; it was more just silent glares whenever someone talked to him and the way he failed to respond at all if someone decided to ask the dreaded question, 'how are you?'

It had been exactly a week since Naruto had entered the institute when he managed to work out the cause for Sasuke's retraction from the small social circle he was surrounded by. The blonde was sitting in his usual spot on the benches after the inmates had eaten their final meal for the day when he caught on. He watched from a distance as Sasuke drifted away from the others, probably to go and choke his lungs for the nth time that day outside when he and the group witnessed a scene they hadn't seen all week.

It clicked the moment he saw the small blob of pink and grey skip up to the Uchiha. That had to have been it. Had something happened between them?

Karin gave a relieved sigh, "Finally."

The white haired teen who was often in her company, along with everybody else, gave her a curious stare. "What?"

"Oh, come on. As if you hadn't noticed. They've not said a word to each other since they—" She paused, rethinking her words, "Since… Sasuke talked to her. You know, on Monday? How dense do you have to be to miss something like that?" She rolled her eyes.

Tenten leant in closer, "Do you think something happened?" She asked.

The group gave a combined groan of exasperation, "Well _obviously_." Ino hissed.

"Something _almost_ happened." Karin said, pursing her lips before standing up and taking her empty tray across to the pile outside of the kitchen slot. It seemed that she wouldn't be saying anymore, but the quickest to catch on was Ino.

"No way." She murmured, sparing a glance to the two on the other side of the hall, "I knew something was up with her!"

Kiba smirked, "And you didn't try to find out what?"

The blonde girl shook her head slowly, her eyes still fixed on the pair. "Of course I tried. Sakura's just… kind of stubborn."

"Sasuke's been weird all week as well…" Naruto added. Kiba nodded, for once in agreement as the blonde continued. "On Monday, I mentioned how he and Sakura seemed close – you know, it was my first full day, even I could see that they were tight – but the moment I said it, he told me to shut up. He's barely said a word to me all week."

"D-do you think they fought?" Hinata asked timidly, a worried expression in place.

"Maybe." Kiba murmured. "Karin knows something we don't know. That's for sure."

"Karin knows everything." Suigetsu snorted. "It's a shame she'd never spill it."

* * *

As their dinner had finished and the free period began for the prisoners, Sakura made up her mind to go and talk to Sasuke. She hadn't said a single word to him all week. He'd kept his distance, and she'd kept hers. But… he was almost like her best friend. And she kind of missed his smirk and the way he mocked the others.

Since she'd known him, Sasuke had been quite hard to work out. He kept everything to himself, even though it may have been better for him to just say how he was feeling. It was just the way he was. But before this week, things had been really good between them. Sakura felt like he was on the verge of opening up to him, especially when he'd confided in her about his curiosity of C Block. And he'd watched out for her. She kind of owed him a thank you anyway.

She rolled the sleeves on her overalls down so they covered her fingers, bit her lip and marched away from the table where the others were sitting. She could see him already heading for the exit, hands in his pockets, mouth a straight line, hair stuck up at the strangest angles. He looked just the same as always. But in this place, who ever really looked any different?

"Hey." She called, skipping up to him. He stopped almost on the threshold of the hall and turned, giving her a blank stare as she reached him. "What's up?"

He gave her a long, silent stare before raising a thin, questioning eyebrow. "What?" He replied.

"I _said_, what's up?"

"Nothing."

"Oh, well, that's cool. I just… haven't spoken to you all week." He just stared. Sakura blinked to the ceiling, almost desperate for it to cave in on them. Maybe this hadn't been such a great idea after all. He began to turn around and she thought quickly, "I… guess I wanted to say thanks?" She said, tone uncertain.

He paused, turning back to her. For a fraction of a second, Sakura saw the ghost of a smirk cross his features as he said, "For what?"

She smiled and shrugged, more awkward and schoolgirlish than convicted teen criminal, "You know what."

"Right." He turned his gaze to her scuffed white plimps. Sakura was inwardly breathing a sigh of relief that those dark onyx eyes, assessing and judging every little movement she made, were no longer locked with her own blatantly uncertain green. "You okay?" She heard him ask after a short, tense moment of silence.

"Uh," Sakura nodded, clasping her hands behind her back, "yeah." She nodded, scrunching her nose up as she said it, "Yeah, I'm just fine. A lot better, um, thank you." She mumbled.

He nodded, "Good."

"So, are you?" She asked, sensing that he was going to make a break for it again.

He gave her a dull look. Oops. She knew he didn't like being asked how he was. Sasuke didn't like his feelings to be probed and examined. "I'm just fine." He answered.

Sakura smiled once again. It felt good that she'd received an answer, whether it were the truth or not. She'd noticed everybody else ask how he was and how he'd evaded responding to them. It made her feel kind of important. There was still a lot that she wanted to say to him, but she knew that with Sasuke, she couldn't just bring it up. Baby steps, was the term that would have described how their friendship had come about. And it would take more than a couple of words to salvage whatever had gone wrong.

What _had _gone wrong? Sakura couldn't figure out how their being interrupted before a kiss could have changed anything between them. Although she supposed that Sasuke hadn't expected to get close to any of the girls in here.

He and Karin had a bit of history from the day he'd arrived. Sakura knew that she'd tried to get with him and so he'd stopped being so close with her. Then Ino had tried the same thing, but Sasuke didn't like her much and rejected her company too. Surely Sakura wouldn't be the next to join them? As much as she liked Sasuke, she wouldn't have dreamt of putting him in any kind of difficult situation. She didn't think that… what had happened with them in her cell had been her fault. In fact, she was pretty damn sure that it was Sasuke who had started it.

He was gone now, out of her sight. She had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed him go, but she knew he'd be outside. He didn't like the noise or the atmosphere inside of the institute. It gave him bad vibes and made him edgy. It made a lot of the prisoners edgy, come to think of it, but Sasuke usually did the smart thing and made himself scarce wherever the mood of the prison was blackest.

She walked by herself through the dim corridors, hearing her footsteps and her footsteps alone. Man, this place gave her the creeps. She found the set of doors that led out onto the courtyard beneath the white-grey skies. It was supposed to be summer, but Sakura guessed that summer never visited Oto. The place was too bleak, too isolated.

She found him, sitting where he always sat, ironically enjoying the fresh air while he blackened his lungs with one of the cancer sticks he continually seemed to consume. He didn't look at her as she hopped up beside him.

"Listen," She sighed, "I know you're not the type to get close with anyone, and I know you didn't intend on making any real friendships when you came to Oto but – you'll hear me out, won't you?"

Sasuke gave a dry smirk, "Where could I go in this place that you wouldn't find me and _make_ me hear you out anyway?"

Sakura fought a tiny giggle. Just comments like that made her feel, well, acknowledged by him. "Right." She said, "Well… I just wanted to— to make it clear that what happened earlier this week… I didn't initiate that." He glanced at her. "You did." She told him.

Sasuke didn't even blink. He knew it was true, he wouldn't deny it. But he wouldn't admit to it either. He was kind of shocked that she had the balls to bring it up though. He returned to gazing at the clouds in the distance. "Okay." He drawled.

He felt her almost fume beside him. Of course an answer like that would piss her off. It was kind of funny to watch. She usually kept her cool, though, which was good, because Sasuke would hate to have been in the warden's shoes whenever Sakura got peeved.

A moment later, the negativity evaporated with a single sigh. "Okay." She said, hopping from the bench and giving him a small wave, "See ya later, alright?"

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, ignoring the urge to watch her as she strutted back inside the building. Strutted being the term used because it seemed that her sassy attitude had returned after her short talk with the Uchiha. Maybe she felt more confident knowing that he wasn't completely ignoring her. But what did he know? He was just one guy. Damn.

But her conversation with him had prompted thoughts that he'd thought he'd locked away to flood his mind. The way they'd stood together so closely inside that grimy cell that she and Karin shared, and the way that it felt like the whole hall had silenced itself, even though when the moment was broken they'd been greeted by the usual racket of the place. Sasuke could ignore his thoughts, but he couldn't lie to himself. The warmth he'd felt in that one lingering instant was a welcome change to the suffocating atmosphere of anguish and paranoia that filled the place.

She was right, he _had _started whatever had happened in there, and he couldn't think why he'd been the one to ignore and avoid her all week. He'd been the one to get close when he knew she was attracted to him. But on the other hand, she was… upset. Troubled deeply by something. And, pfft, Sasuke was _weak _to womanly tears. She'd started it with the crying. God.

He rolled his knuckles against his temples. This is why he preferred not to become attached to girls like Sakura. Because he felt like he actually cared. And caring about anyone or anything hurt. Hurt his head, hurt his chest, hurt his bones… especially when that anyone or anything decided to give up on him. But she wouldn't do that to him, his head was telling him. She wouldn't dream of it.

Sasuke headed for the gym. He had some serious anxiety threatening to overload his careful, quiet and consistent thought process. He'd decide what to do about _her _later. Right now… he needed to distract himself.

* * *

Hinata pored over the yellowing pages of the worn book, an old eastern classic about a samurai's son, held hostage from his birth and his quest to destroy the battles between his two families, those who raised him, and those who created him.

She doubted anyone would know how much she loved stories like these. She was too quiet for them to take even the slightest interest in, well, her interests. But it didn't matter, she liked listening to their own stories… Ino's were always so animated and funny. Karin rarely told hers, but when she did, they had the group stunned into silence. Tenten… was always with Neji, so she didn't know an awful lot about her… or Sakura, because she didn't talk about her life on the outside at all. Maybe she did to Sasuke, but he was just as reserved as she was. Kiba always joked about his life on the outside, though, so there was always a bit of entertainment.

The small Hyuuga girl with the lilac eyes smiled to herself at the thought of her friends. She felt lucky that they'd included her, otherwise she was sure one of the more immoral girls would have started picking on her. She… wasn't exactly the toughest girl in the institution. If she was, she wouldn't be reading books in the near-deserted library.

She had reached her favourite chapter. The part where the young samurai finally gets to tell the girl who's helped him through his journeys and troubles how he feels. It always made Hinata wonder what it would be like when the man she finally fell in love with fell in love with her. Or if she'd ever fall in love. Certainly not after being locked up in a young offender's reformatory.

But her friends all seemed to be finding happiness in each other, so maybe… _someone_… would notice her too.

Her cheeks tinted pink as one name in particular came to mind. Naruto Uzumaki… the boy with the golden hair and big, blue eyes. She had to admit, he was gorgeous, even with the six scars that marred his face. She wondered what they were from. She hadn't heard anybody ask. Maybe they all decided it was personal. After all, Kiba had two bright red fangs tattooed on his cheeks, and Neji had something ridiculous inked across his forehead, the moron. Sasuke's wrists were also tattooed peculiarly. Maybe it was just how they liked to look.

Hinata didn't think she could tattoo herself, or get covered in scars just to outwardly display her personality, but she liked looking at some of the designs that Karin and Sakura drew together sometimes. Sakura talked about how she wanted a tiny little cherry blossom on her hip, just to top off the general _'Sakura'_ theme while Karin listed numerous words and things and places that she'd have once she got to a _'real' _tattoo artist. She didn't trust the kids in the prison who claimed they could pin-and-pen permanent portrayals in an instant. Wise.

Karin was actually the smartest girl she'd ever met. Not just with math and science and English, but with her life. The only thing she'd been stupid at was repeatedly hurting people to the point where she landed herself a fine long life in jail. But she didn't even seem to _mind_. She'd learnt to deal with things, like her temper and her fists. And she'd helped a whole bunch of people out with her advice and knowledge of the institution. It was a wonder that she had chosen to link herself with Suigetsu after Sasuke had told her to back off.

Suigetsu, from Hinata's point of view, was scary. He was nice, but he was also terrifying. Not only for the knife-crime thing he'd been convicted for, but he just _always _seemed to want to stir the other guys up. He liked stirring Karin up more, though. Those two were at each other's neck's day and night, but it was clear, in the rare moments of peace between them, that they liked each other. Sometimes, he'd grab the redheaded girl and pull her into his lap and not let her go, which was always funny to watch. Okay, so his little liking for Karin did make him less scary but… he was still a weirdo.

However, Suigetsu's scariness could not ever compare to that of Tenten's. Hinata was sure that the only people who weren't constantly worrying about their wording of things with her were Neji, her older cousin, and Sasuke, who had already demonstrated with a raging Sakura that he was in no way frightened of the fiercer girls. Or… maybe he just didn't care.

Well… maybe he did care about something. Hinata was aware that he missed his older brother a lot, and from what Sakura had said, he loved his mother to death, which was cute. She couldn't see him being very different at home than how he behaved here and so it was nice to imagine that he might have had a heart. He must have had something in there if he'd turned to actually talk to Sakura in the dining hall earlier.

Because Hinata preferred to listen and take note of how her friends acted rather than join in and fight for dominance in the conversations and daily goings-on of the group, she had learnt a lot about the way they conducted themselves. And from what she could tell, Sasuke and Sakura had a relationship similar to the one he had shared with Karin a while before the pinkette had arrived. They talked, they were barely apart, she stuck up for him when there were discussions about him on the girl's wing, he pulled her distraught form out of the clear view of everyone else just last week – and that was when they'd stopped talking.

Hinata assumed that something similar had happened between the two of them as had happened previously with Karin. The redhead had pretty much cornered the poor boy and since then, they hardly spoke anymore despite the friendship circle they were in. After Sasuke had told Karin he didn't want to mess around with her, he'd avoided her like the plague. Just like he'd been avoiding Sakura… but Hinata had heard her say numerous times that she wouldn't ever want to put him in a situation he didn't want to be in. She couldn't imagine the pinkette jumping him or whatever and wrecking their closeness.

But seeing how he had shared a somewhat short conversation with her today, Hinata still had hope for them. Sasuke and Sakura. Polar opposites and loaded with secrets. Could it happen? She really hoped so. Sasuke was so closed up and Sakura only really seemed to smile – _really _smile – when he was near. And she… she could make him laugh, too. She'd heard it before. Not a full on laugh, but she could make him crack a chuckle every once in a while. Usually because she'd embarrass herself and get flustered over it and then yell at somebody for looking, but the fact was that nobody else could do that.

…And maybe if Sasuke and Sakura's opposite personalities could spark an attraction, she could spark one with the new guy. But there was no way she could talk to him. She'd just… no. She would try. She'd do her best, because even Sakura had walked up to Sasuke today after being totally unnerved by his evasions of her. So… if Sakura could do it, she could too. Maybe.

* * *

**notes: **_happy birthday sasuke! okay guys, this is where the updating becomes difficult. i've had these three chapters ready to be uploaded since forever, and chapter four is in the process of being written... i'm just not sure how long it will take for me to update from now on. ideally, it would be every sunday night/monday morning, but we'll see how that goes, alright? also, thank you a MILLION times to those of you who reviewed! your reviews made me smile so much, thank you for all of your kind words and i'm soooo glad you're enjoying oto's juvie so far. thanks for reading! and please don't forget to drop me a review! _


	4. Chapter 4

**Four: The Plan**

"I'm gonna do it." Sasuke breathed as Sakura seated herself beside him as usual in class. She shuffled in the chair for a moment, moving it forward with a rough grinding sound against the old, greyish brown carpet.

The pinkette gave him an odd look, questioning. Sasuke didn't return it. His eyes were tracing the patterns that had been etched into the table top. His long, slim fingers tapped softly against the ugly covering of it, black eyes narrowed as he bit his lip thoughtfully. He didn't know why he'd felt the need to inform her of his plans, but he continued anyway. "I'm going to try and get inside it."

Sakura's bright green eyes widened for a moment before she rolled them, "You're _still _going on about C Block?"

Sasuke shot her an unreadable look. She seemed different, recently. It was as if she were constantly mad at him about something. He… didn't like it, it just wasn't nice. She had always been so upbeat and friendly as opposed to his blunt, cold exterior. Ever since their confrontation, although they'd decided to call a truce, it was like she was still holding some icy dagger right in front of him. His eye twitched. "What's _with _you?"

Sakura just shrugged, twisting in her seat and folding one leg over the other so that she could give him a proper look. Her fingers linked themselves together lightly as she settled herself. Sasuke watched her, his eyes shooting up and down her face for any sign of what might be going on in her mind… _nothing_. That was so infuriating. She shouldn't have been the stoic one. That was _his _job.

He sighed, resting his cheek on his palm as he continued to meet her gaze. He decided to ignore her odd mood, passing it off as some grumpy state of PMS or something. God, girls were annoying. "I'm going to get inside it… somehow."

* * *

The first real fight that Naruto witnessed during his stay at the juvenile institution in Oto involved Sasuke and, if you'd believe it, the captain of the guard himself, Kabuto. It was four weeks after he had arrived. The group was sitting in their usual cluster at their time-scarred table during breakfast, digging into the mushy oatmeal without much of their usual chatter.

Something felt different today. Something felt very, very strange. It was as if the usual violence in the air had been magnified, and it was particularly heavy around their space. The boys snapped their replies to each other instead of the usual banter that was passed between them.

The blonde kept his head down. He didn't want any of them to turn on him with their sharp, snappy replies. He'd never experienced them so uneasy. His blue eyes rove over the small space that his line of vision offered him: the jagged marks, the occasional scribble across the table grated in by a knife or a fork, the side of his tray. He heard almost nothing. Everyone was quiet today. Was it a special day or something? Naruto didn't know. Nobody else had told him anything.

He glanced up, looking for Sasuke – he doubted _he _would tell him but he knew that the Uchiha held a certain sense of calm. It surrounded him. It rolled from his shoulders in waves. Calm, but dangerous. Water mixed with poison, blood with disease. That was how Sasuke held himself. Naruto always wondered why he was so resistant to the idea of obtaining a friend or two. He guessed he'd never know unless the Uchiha were willing to speak of it – which he was sure he wasn't.

Sasuke was nowhere to be seen. Sakura was talking quietly with Ino. Could she not feel the restlessness? It was… intense. Or maybe… maybe it was just him. Maybe it was just Naruto. Maybe _he _was the one who was restless. And maybe he was the one creating the very questionable vibe surrounding the others. But— no, it couldn't have been him. When he got agitated, it was a whole different story. Naruto's eyes narrowed, surveying the hall.

It took him less time than he had expected to find Sasuke. There was a crackle from the walkie-talkie radio system attached to a nearby guard. A somewhat hectic voice travelled and reached his keen ears. _"We have a situation. Report to Cell Block B at once."_

The guard spared one of the clocks on the wall a glance before sprinting out of the hall. Kiba nudged Naruto, "Let's follow 'em." He muttered.

Without a word to anyone, the blonde and the brunette hopped away from the bench, abandoning their breakfasts without a second thought. When asked, Kiba responded to Ino that he had to grab something from his cell. And that was that. They knew where they were going, it wasn't much of a challenge since the building consisted of five main sectors: the cafeteria, the educational rooms, the shower blocks, the reception and, of course, Cell Block B.

As they booked their way through the empty, echoing halls, the sound of shouts and grunts drew louder. A fight? Almost certainly. Naruto had a bad feeling as he neared the doorway. Two guards lay in agonized heaps close to the doorway while, a few feet away, Sasuke stood, silent as the grave and examining his knuckles as if he hadn't been involved.

"Sasuke," Kiba's tone was shocked. The Uchiha flinched at the sound of his name – something Naruto had never seen before. "What happened, man?"

"That is none of your concern." The dark haired teen responded, tone daring Kiba to argue with him. The brunette raised his eyebrows, clearly biting back a response. Naruto stepped closer to one of the guards. He bent down, ignoring the way his clothes seemed to rustle so loudly in the silence of the place. "Leave them." Sasuke spoke again.

The blonde cast a cautious look over to the other teen, his sleeves rolled up, hands in his pockets, dark eyes locked onto the face of the man that Naruto had reached for. "How did you—?" He began before stopping, shaking his head and then trying again, "_Why?"_

"I don't know. Felt like it." The Uchiha shrugged. Kiba snorted, aiming a very deliberate kick to the shin of one of the men in his dark purple uniform as he passed him. He stepped up to Sasuke, raising his hand to give him a friendly slap on the back before thinking better of it. The watchful glare from Sasuke appeared to tell him more than just 'keep your mouth shut'.

Naruto couldn't tell what it was with Sasuke. The vibe he sent out was aggressive. That was for sure. A thin sliver of blood from a split across one of his knuckles travelled between his fingers. "So, what, you just punched the guy and didn't stop?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke didn't respond. His eyes were focussed ahead now, clearly anticipating something. Naruto froze, slowly rising to his feet as heavy footsteps began to thunder down the corridor. The blonde backed up, falling in line with Sasuke and Kiba, his own measured footsteps slow as another three guards loomed into sight. The dark haired boy exhaled, but did not move from his lazy stance as the silver haired guard marched towards the three of them, black eyes narrowed behind a set of glasses as he reached for the baton on the side of his belt.

"What happened here?" He asked, voice curt.

"What do you_ think_ happened, Kabuto?" Kiba sneered from his place a small ways behind Sasuke. Naruto suspected that he would use the Uchiha as a shield should the captain decide to attack.

"Inuzuka, Uchiha and Uzumaki." The tallest of the four smirked, pushing his circular glasses up his nose. The dull light glinted threateningly off the lenses like a blunt knife. "I have to say, I never expected trouble from a relatively new inmate… _you,_ Naruto."

"Hey," The tattooed brunette suddenly spat before the blonde could say anything, "we only just got here. Don't go jumping to conclusions, _Captain._"

"This is pathetic." Sasuke spat, making to leave and stepping slowly and casually in the direction of the open doors, clearly heading for the corridor. He was not interested in dealing with Kabuto's sarcastic comments or snotty tone. He wanted only to get out, get away – lessons would have started by now but he didn't feel particularly social today. Maybe he'd just take a wander.

In truth, Sasuke had no idea why he was so tense. It was just one of the things that built up over time, he supposed. Everybody had their bad days. Why should he be any exception to the bad attitudes? After all, he was supposed to be the very balls of the entire convict-community inside of these prison walls.

As the Uchiha stepped forward, his scuffed white shoes hitting the cold, concrete floor calmly and without a sound, he passed the second guard he had punched the lights out of. The man gave a deliberate cough which breathed his last name.

It happened in seconds. Kabuto's dark grey eyes clashed with Sasuke's hollow onyx and a swift swipe of the elongated baton was sent in the direction of the dark haired boy's chest. Sasuke had anticipated this, and before the metal could make contact with him, he had stopped it with the palm of his hand.

Didn't these people ever learn? Fourteen years of karate and judo beside ten years of video gaming had taught him quicker than quick responses – trying to land a hit on Sasuke was almost impossible. That was one of the reasons his parents had decided to send him to Oto after he was charged and found guilty of the several recurring arson attacks. One of the biggest youth institutions in the country surely meant security strong enough to deal with him. _Wrong._

He glared at the silver haired captain whose eyes narrowed back in response. The Uchiha felt the pressure from Kabuto's gloved hand slowly disappear as he realized his baton wasn't going anywhere near Sasuke. The second he lowered it, Sasuke struck.

His fist collided instantly with the stomach of the silver haired man. Kabuto grimaced, bringing his baton up again – but his grip on it was slack from the distracting pain in his abdomen. Sasuke snatched it and dropped it purposely onto the head of the second guard he'd knocked out. The one who'd moaned. This could have all been over with if it hadn't been for him. Sasuke smirked at the small 'oof' that sounded as the heavy object connected with his skull and then slid to the concrete, rolling for a moment.

Kabuto reached for his radio next, but Sasuke whipped the side of his hand across the silver-haired guard's wrist and sent the device flying into the corridor behind him. "Uchiha, I swear, if you don't stop this bullshit—"

The dark haired teen's hand shot out once more, suddenly capturing the guard's throat and marching him backwards into the wall, slamming him against it forcefully, "Don't fuck around with me, Kabuto." He murmured. Deadly serious.

Naruto stood, stunned, listening to the whimpering and the choking that came from the taller man's mouth as the Uchiha teen continued to watch him squirm under the different pressures his hand made, smirking slightly. It was at that moment that the Uzumaki boy mentally declared Sasuke a sadist. But he guessed that wasn't so surprising.

Kiba jogged forward, "Sasuke— man! Fuck! Stop it. You're going to get yourself in deep shit—"

Sasuke whirled around, Captain Yakushi sliding to the floor with his hands around his own neck as he gasped dramatically for air. The brunette's hands slammed onto his younger friend's shoulders, dark brown eyes locking with Sasuke's seriously, "Stop this." He said.

Sasuke gave him one long, filthy glare, pulling his arm back slowly and threateningly. He was not about to take shit from Kiba as well. Absolutely not. The Inuzuka boy's eyes widened for a second, staring behind Sasuke. Before the Uchiha could get a second glance, a sharp hot pain slammed violently into the back of his neck – after that, everything went black.

Naruto stared with eyes like golfballs as he watched his cellmate drop to his knees gracelessly, emitting a quiet gasp of what he suspected might have been surprise before he fell, unconscious, to the floor. Kabuto stood with one hand holding onto his neck, and a baton in the other, glaring down at the Uchiha.

"Orochimaru will hear of this." The silver haired guard breathed, eyes narrowing at Naruto and Kiba, "And we'll see how Sasuke fares under the warden's punishment. Because if it were mine, the little shit would be dead." He cast the Uchiha a short, hateful smirk before slamming the very tip of his foot into the boy's ribs. A whispered curse shot from Sasuke's pale lips as he winced.

Kiba shook. He had never seen one of his friends be assaulted by the guards. He'd never seen anyone be assaulted by the guards, to be honest. They just _looked_ mean. It didn't mean they were actually willing to batter anyone. "You're a bastard, Kabuto. Ever heard of not kicking a man when he's down?" Naruto bit back a retort involving how Kiba was sort of being a hypocrite since he had done the exact same thing. The Inuzuka boy's hands balled into tight, white-knuckled fists. He knew better than to repeat Sasuke's actions, but _god_, how he wanted to after seeing his strongest friend get treated like that when he had no way of defending himself.

So what if Sasuke had started it? Sasuke was usually one of the people to stop fights in their tracks. He saved the prison a lot of shit and the guards weren't even aware of it. He was just… having a bad day. Probably. And that was understandable. He'd been far too composed for far too long. Even _he _needed to unleash his anger sometimes. And while Sasuke did use the gym, his ridiculous smoking habit had messed up his body quite a lot. It was hard for him to get his hate out properly on the punch bag when his lungs refused it. God _dammit_, Sasuke…

The captain just smiled, retreating to wherever it was that his radio had ended up after Sasuke had hit it out of his hand. He picked it up, hitting a specific number and continuing to beam delightfully at the blonde and the brunette. "Orochimaru, sir, Sasuke Uchiha's been causing some trouble on Cell Block B. I will give you details later, he has become incapacitated. What do you want me to do with him for now?"

"_Bring Uchiha to the medical wing… I haven't seen him in a while. This should be interesting."_ The low, hissing voice responded. The warden's slow, rehearsed way of speaking altered the mood in the cell block from urgent to tense, dangerous even. Naruto clenched his teeth as two more guards arrived. One had a toothpick between his teeth, eyes fixed lethargically on the heap of incapacitated males strewn across the floor.

"What a mess." He commented, dryly.

The other, whom Naruto recognized as the guard who helped Sasuke out with his cigarettes (well, with almost anything he asked for, really), Kakashi. He raised his index finger and scratched a bare space of skin beneath his one visible eye, "Sasuke did this?" He snorted.

Kabuto straightened up, seemingly trying to appear superior. In Naruto's opinion, it wasn't working very well. "Uchiha is out of control. He attacked these two without reason." He explained briefly, "Luckily I arrived just in time to handle the situation—"

Kiba snorted, "Dream _on_." He muttered. Naruto chuckled as if to back him up. "You couldn't handle a teacup."

"Unless you wish to join your friend in the medical wing with an appointment with Orochimaru, I suggest you two keep your mouths_ shut._" The silver haired captain of the guard bit out. He didn't even bother looking around. Kiba continued to snicker, nudging the whiskered-blonde as a sign for him to do the same.

"Hold on," Kakashi cut in, stepping forward, "Orochimaru? He started a fight just the same as most of the kids do… is that _really _a necessity?" He asked, one eye narrowed hard at his superior.

"The warden was planning on arranging an examination with Uchiha anyway." Kabuto spat, suddenly defensive. Naruto shot his brunette friend a wide, blue-eyed gaze. Kiba returned it with raised eyebrows. "What I choose to do with the prisoners is up to me." He added, "I am the captain of this guard force, not you."

The other guard raised a hand to pick at his beard, "Alright Kabuto," He drawled, "let's not be childish in front of the," He glanced at Kiba and Naruto with a grin and a wink, "well, the children."

"Just do your job and get Uchiha to the infirmary. I'll have someone else take care of these two," He gestured to the other two guards before turning his dull, grey eyes and fixing them on the blonde Uzumaki boy and his brunette companion. "Well?" He spat at them, "Don't you two have _lessons_ to go to?"

Kiba shoved his hands into his pockets, puffing his cheeks up with air and mooching silently past the captain of the guard with Naruto in tow. The man clearly didn't know what he was doing. Why was he even working with adolescents if he blatantly had no idea how to speak to them. "Sasuke'll be fine right?" The brunette murmured to Kakashi as he passed him.

The silver haired guard nodded once. "I'll make sure of it."

"Good." Kiba nodded, his white shoe covered foot hesitating over the threshold between the hall and the corridor as he glanced over his shoulder to the dark haired teen, lying uncomfortably on his side, face twisted into some pained expression. What in the world could have possessed him to act so recklessly, _especially _with the guards? Was he _trying _to get an isolation offence?

Isolation was simply when a prisoner who had behaved badly was forced to stay in a totally empty cell for an extended period of time. The cell didn't have bars, as all of the others did. It simply had a huge black metal door with a single food hatch and a thin sliver of a window just beneath the ceiling. A prisoner could be put in there for days depending on the seriousness of their wrong-doing within the institution's walls. From Kiba's experience, it was _not _fun. But… Sasuke _was _a favourite of the warden. Perhaps he'd get a slightly lighter form of punishment.

At break, as Naruto was walking, head down through the dull corridors by himself, something slammed into him roughly. A set of hands grabbed either side of his shirt and walked him backwards. His back hit the wall with a thud. One confusing moment later, the blonde realized that it had been Sakura who had attacked him. "Sakura!" He gasped, simply relieved that she wasn't some huge, angry bully.

"Where's Sasuke?" She breathed. "Temari said she saw him being taken up to the infirmary, where _is _he?"

The blue eyed boy blinked, almost completely terrified. "Uh—uhm, well, if that's where Temari saw him going… I'd assume the infirmary." He answered, wincing lest he would get a smack.

Sakura released him roughly but didn't step back, "_Why_?" She urged his answer.

Naruto glanced around and then back down to her. Sasuke had said she'd been acting off with him – so why was she suddenly so desperate? Her eyes were large, jaw set firmly. The blonde gulped, "This morning… I don't know what happened to cause it, but he attacked a group of guards including Kabuto." He took a deep breath as Sakura's expression fell with dismay. "He just— I don't know, Sakura, I've never seen him like that before." A chuckle, "Well, at least he served Kabuto a good dose of everybody's feelings, the great _prick_—"

_Slap!_

The blonde Uzumaki boy felt his cheek sting. His hand came up to cradle it as it flushed. "Dude, what?"

Sakura was looking at her hand, apparently amazed that she had even acted like that. "S-sorry, Naruto," She murmured, stepping back, "you can give that to Sasuke later if you want to." She ran a hand through her hair, "So that's his plan…" She mumbled.

The blonde straightened up. His brows had drawn together critically as he looked down at her. What was she _on _about? "Sakura?" He asked. She looked up. "What's going on? What's happening with you and Sasuke, I mean? And what do you mean by '_his plan'_?" The blonde gesticulated with two fingers on either hand.

The girl with the pink hair shook her head, expression changing from annoyed and confused to an indecipherable smile, "Sasuke and I are friends." Was all she said before she skipped away.

Naruto was left alone. _Mindfucked._

* * *

Sasuke glared at the ceiling. He had a headache worse than any others he'd experienced in a long time, and his throat and mouth were dry. Yet here he was, sitting in Orochimaru's office and waiting for the warden to appear. Don't get him wrong, this is exactly what he had wanted. He'd planned this for days. It was just… a little more painful than he had expected.

The yellow eyed man sat in front of him, greyish fingers laced together and pointed chin atop them. "Sasuke," He said, voice dangerously soft and hissing. _Snake._ He knew Sasuke a little better than to expect a reply, and so he continued, "are you willing to tell me what all of that was about?"

Sasuke rolled his head on his neck, giving him a brutal glare. Orochimaru simpered, "I thought not. Did you just want an audience with little old me?" God, this man was so… twisted. He laughed to himself while the Uchiha stared blankly at him.

"Actually," Sasuke began, cursing his dry throat for the scratched sound of his usually deep and smooth voice, "I did."

This stopped the laughter in its tracks. Orochimaru leaned forward, golden eyes narrowing at the youth's apathetic expression, trying to thaw his icy air. "So," The warden beamed, smile wider than anything, "what did you come for?"

Sasuke stared the older man down for a moment before leaning back more comfortably in his seat. "I've asked it before." He said slowly. "I'd simply like to know about C Block." Orochimaru stared without even blinking, and so Sasuke continued, "It's unnerving having a building there and not knowing what it's for." At this, there was a slight twitch in the warden's jaw. Sasuke worked with this, ignoring how odd it must have sounded, "It's completely walled away, yet when I'm outside in the late evening and nobody else is out there, I can hear people. I can hear _teenagers_."

"Perhaps you need to have your head examined, boy." Orochimaru muttered, "Blocks A and B are the only cell units populated by anyone." His golden gaze settled on Sasuke's onyx one, daring him to continue.

Sasuke did. "If that's so," He murmured, "why did you never want to talk to me about it before?"

The dark haired man raised a slim eyebrow at Sasuke, who fought back a smirk. Ah, so there really was something going on there. "Well, obviously because you've made such a desperate effort to reach me." He switched topics, "If that is all, I will have you escorted back to your cell. You will not be allowed to leave it during free periods."

Sasuke nodded once. A small, nagging urge wanted to ask for the reason for Sakura's behaviour the other week. It also wanted to know what she had been locked up for in the first place, but he respected that she wanted to keep that private. And it wasn't like Sakura was the only person whose skin Orochimaru could get under. He ignored the urge and instead got to his feet.

It seemed, however that he'd forgotten something. His head fucking _hurt_. The Uchiha fought with a small sense of dizziness, unable to handle the wave of white that blinded him momentarily before staggering gracelessly out of the office. His hand reached out sightlessly, grabbing onto what he hoped was Kakashi's arm, his other hand over his eyes, shutting out the light. The light _burned_ him.

"Sasuke!" His name came out of the guard's lips worriedly before everything went black.

* * *

Sakura stood at the foot of the steps that would take her onto the boy's wing of Cell Block B. It was forbidden for anyone to go up either of the sides, but she figured… Sasuke had done it for her before, so it was only natural that she'd want to do the same for him. She'd waited outside of the medical wing for ages, skipping her lessons before lunch until he, Kakashi and Asuma had appeared and stumbled awkwardly out of it and straight through to the cells.

She'd waited for the guards to leave before skipping across the empty expanse of land and stopping at the locked gate. She took a deep breath before clambering over it quickly and making her way soundlessly across the metal flooring to the cell directly across the hall from hers.

There he was. She gave him a momentary glare before her face softened. It seemed that Kakashi and Asuma had simply deposited him onto Naruto's bed. She knew that Sasuke didn't like the bottom bunks. He didn't like the top much better but he preferred being higher up away from the grimy floors. He was quite a picky boy, really.

He was apparently asleep, turned on one side with an arm covering the bottom half of his face, elbow of the other arm cushioning his head. A thin layer of sweat had appeared slickly on his milky skin. A painful jolt of realization hit Sakura. He'd fainted – this was what he had looked like when he'd passed out in front of her from a migraine before. Her heart sunk, her fingers closing over the space where it should have been as she breathed slowly, one hand locked around one of the thick metal bars of the cell.

She doubted the door would be open, but she tried it anyway. To her surprise, it screeched when she tugged on one of the bars to prize her way in. Sasuke didn't move, and so she assumed he was really asleep. She slipped through the small space, not daring to let the door squeal any louder. Her footsteps were quiet. Not in the catlike way that his were, but quiet. Like raindrops tapping against a hollow pipe. She made her way to his side and sat down silently towards the foot of the bed, looking down at him, her eyes sad.

She hated to see Sasuke in any kind of defenceless state. He was so proud and aloof, so when he lost even a smidge of that powerful outer vibe, it was like a tidal wave of uncertainty to Sakura. She was so used to having him mutter his sarcastic comments.

"Sakura? I never thought _you'd_ break the rules…"

She sighed, she could almost hear him now. Glancing back to his face, she was startled. _Ah_, so that hadn't just been a figment of her imagination. Confused onyx eyes glittered under the dim light inside of the cell as Sasuke cast a curious look over the pinkette. She _melted_. He couldn't have been out for long, but his voice was husky as it always was in the mornings when he'd murmur his responses to her. His brows knitted together in a sincerely _lost_ fashion. "Oh. You're awake!" She grinned.

Sasuke closed his eyes. He didn't dare moving in case his headache decided to snare a hold of his nervous system again. What had happened? Well, he _knew_ he'd had a migraine and fainted. He'd had enough fits of nervous exhaustion to last him a lifetime. But… _ugh_. That would have been the second time he'd passed out in one day, and both times in front of the people in the institution he rebelled the hardest against. _Damn_. "Yes, m'awake. Why are you here?" He mumbled into the crook of his arm.

The pinkette lowered her voice, apparently recognizing that her loud, cheerfulness would do him more harm than good, "Well," she murmured, "some people told me that you were in the infirmary. I went there to find out what for, but you weren't there." Sasuke remained silent. She couldn't even tell if he was awake and listening. She continued anyway. "Naruto told me you fought with the C.O.G." Captain of the guard. "Why?"

The pale Uchiha raised a hand slowly, fingers curling slightly around her arm before tugging her down. Sakura made some unattractive pterodactyl sound as she fell, shoulder hitting the space in front of Sasuke's face. His eyes were still closed. Figures. Light with a migraine was _painful_. She settled herself comfortably opposite him, amazed that the tiny bunk could fit the two of them on it, even if they were on their sides and relatively small for their ages. "I wanted to make a point to the warden." He murmured, softer than before. "That's all."

Stunned into silence by their proximity, Sakura just nodded. She knew he wasn't telling the truth. She knew what he was really doing. He'd stir as much trouble as he could from now on, just to get on the warden's nerves. It was something that a lot of the boys did from time to time so that they could get the specific attention that they wanted. Karin did it often, too. "I understand." She replied quietly, just hoping that she knew what he meant.

"I'm on semi-isolation. No free time. No socialising…" He said, "you shouldn't even be up here, Sakura, you should go."

"But… Sasuke." She began, but Sasuke gave a slight hushing movement with his head to silence her. "Okay, okay." The pinkette sighed. She had come to the sudden realization that she'd _never _be able to say no to Sasuke when he was being this cute. There was absolutely no chance. "Just let me stay a little bit. If you're not allowed to interact with the rest of us, let me stay until you fall asleep."

At this, Sasuke managed a smirk. A small twitch of the mouth. It wasn't much, but to Sakura, it was an answer. She hated herself for sounding so desperate to spend time with him, but at least it had worked. Or maybe he was just too tired to argue. She knew she should have left him alone to sleep off his headache… it was just that for some reason, she couldn't fight the instincts inside of her that told her not to leave him. It was just like when her older sisters wouldn't leave her on her own whenever she was sick as a child. Just… a thing she felt she needed to do.

"Sakura," Sasuke mumbled, "why do you freak out so much at Orochimaru?"

The pinkette frowned. He'd _obviously _managed to work out her weakness to his… well, his weakness. "He patronizes me. He's just despicable. You know the way he'll use your crime against you after asking what your hopes for the future are?"

"Mhm."

"That was the thing that had gotten me the first day. He asked what I wanted to be, and when I told him I wanted to become a doctor, he made up some snarky remark about how it was a shame I couldn't work my doctoring knowledge on my—" Sakura stopped. She realized that Sasuke was listening intently. When had he opened his eyes? He continued to gaze at her, head half buried in the thin pillow.

"Your what?" He asked, quiet.

Sakura rolled her eyes, "My victim, obviously." She said, tone quite harsh. Sasuke winced slightly at the sudden snap in her voice. "…I'm sorry. I told you, Sasuke, I'm still coming to terms with it myself."

The Uchiha nodded, chewing on his lip from the inside. "You killed someone." He murmured. "No, wait. That would put you in A Block." He brought his hands up and massaged his temples.

"Close your eyes, you'll just get a relapse if you try using them. Is your head still sore?"

"You injured somebody?" Sasuke continued to guess. He did, however, obey her orders and shut his eyes immediately. It was like a wave of cool, gentleness as the surprisingly bright glare of the dingy cell was shut out. He paused, hand ghosting gently over her cheek. He really just wanted to know how far away she was, to be honest. He hadn't meant to do any caressing and/or touching of the girl's face. He heard the way her breath hitched in her throat. "Y'wanna know what I think?"

"…What?" The pinkette murmured, her fingers locking around the side of his hand.

"It… might not mean a lot coming from someone accused of being a pyro, a.k.a. possibly insane." The Uchiha drawled, "But… Sakura, don't let one mistake define you." Sakura felt her heart… flutter. That was the sweetest, deepest thing she'd ever heard him say. "Nobody in this place knows what you did except for the staff. What makes you think they'd judge you after finding out? You've got everyone there for you." His speech trailed off, voice ragged.

Sakura beamed, she knew. Of course she knew that. She had Karin and Tenten and Ino and Hinata for a start, and all of the boys, even the new guy, Naruto had taken a liking to her. And… Sasuke. She had had Sasuke there for her from the start. Obviously it just took a firm battering and a violent headache for him to be able to let her know.

"It's not something I can just describe." She sighed, "But I'll try. Please keep it secret." She whispered.

"'Course." Sasuke nodded once, removing his hand from her cheek and bringing it back to lie in between them, flexing his fingers expectantly for hers to join it. He didn't know why he did that. He didn't have a _clue_. That was just the way it was. He was too tired to pretend he didn't care, and he'd already let her know he wouldn't care whether she'd murdered someone or broken a window. He just… wanted to know about her. Starting with the reason for their meeting.

"And if you fall asleep, I'm not re-telling it." She added with a simper.

Sasuke grinned, a rare flash of a smile followed by a momentary laugh. "Okay."

The pink haired Haruno girl took a deep breath, her eyes watching the way that his thumb travelled up and down her index finger gently. "My mother married an alcoholic. He wasn't my father. He was just a man she'd met in the last couple of years, like from when I was thirteen. She was always really busy with her work, so he stayed at home to look after us the summer they got married. My sisters always watched my back, but…" She sighed, "…well, they moved out a few months ago. Mom went away on a business trip, so I was left alone with him." Her lip quivered momentarily, and she was thankful that Sasuke had shut his eyes.

"He asked if I wanted to watch the football with him. I mean, he was in a really good mood about it, so I was like, '_why not_?', you know? He'd been a father figure in my house for years. Maybe it was time that I bonded with him. Anyway, long story short, his team lost. He'd made a bet on it, so he was _really _angry. You know me, Sasuke, of course I went and made some comment about how he shouldn't have been gambling in the first place since it wasn't exactly his money."

"Oh…" Sasuke frowned, somewhat sympathetic. I was thankful for that.

"Yeah, I know. He lost his shit with me and…" She shrugged wordlessly, "well, he plainly attacked me. All punches."

"Fuck." Sasuke hissed. His eyes shot open and the grip on her hand tightened a fraction, "You're a _girl_." He said incredulously, "And you're _small_."

"Exactly, I'm a _really _small girl. I had no way to defend myself, except for one of the nearby bottles. I smashed it over his head. He's in a coma. Multiple glass-cut wounds. Blind in one eye."

Without giving it a moment's thought, Sasuke glared, "_Good."_ He seethed. "You're lucky you got him sooner rather than later, Sakura. You know how fucked up drunken abuse goes, don't you?" He asked her, earnestly. He wanted her to know that she wasn't a monster. She wasn't as bad as she made out to be. It was just that she was _Sakura_ and he'd never want to see anyone hurt her. At this thought, Sasuke's subconscious slapped him.

_You're falling for her, you know that, don't you? _

_"Yes,_ Sasuke. My mom and my defence argued that for me, but since I robbed a man of his sight, I still got prison time. He's got it too when he slips out of that coma." She added with a smirk. "I don't really want to talk about it anymore… I spend a lot of time thinking about it already. Now you know."

"Hn." Sasuke nodded, agreeing silently not to continue the discussion. "Such a fucking piece of—"

"Sasuke!" Sakura scolded, giggling softly and hiding her face in his chest. "Please."

The Uchiha blinked down at her, dark eyes steely as usual, but with some warm sense to them. They only ever got this way when he was close with her. He'd noticed it when they'd ignored each other. Without her, he was cold. Always cold. His arm slipped gently around her waist and he curled his chin into his neck, resting the side of his cheek against her head. It wasn't comfortable, sure, but it was comfort_ing._

An hour or so later, Sakura slipped quietly from his cell, her heart feeling fuller and happier and lighter than it had in years.

* * *

**notes: **So this chapter kind of came out of nowhere, right? Well, let's just see exactly what Sasuke's got up his sleeve... Also! Thank you all so much for your reviews! Could we get to 30? :D Thank you for reading, and please review!


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